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Cal. ELEC § 12302

This is the official text of Cal. ELEC § 12302, part of California’s Elections Code — governs how elections are conducted, including voter registration, ballots, and campaign rules.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), a member of a precinct board shall be a voter of the state. The member may serve only in the precinct for which his or her appointment is received.

(b) (1) In order to provide for a greater awareness of the elections process, the rights and responsibilities of voters, and the importance of participating in the electoral process, as well as to provide additional members of precinct boards, an elections official may appoint not more than five pupils per precinct to serve under the direct supervision of precinct board members designated by the elections official. A pupil may be appointed, notwithstanding his or her lack of eligibility to vote, subject to the approval of the governing board of the educational institution in which the pupil is enrolled, if the pupil possesses the following qualifications:

(A) Is at least 16 years of age at the time of the election for which he or she is serving as a member of a precinct board.

(B) Is a United States citizen, will be a citizen at the time of the election for which he or she is serving as a member of a precinct board, or is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States, as defined in Section 101(a)(20) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(20)).

(C) Is a pupil in good standing attending a public or private secondary educational institution.

(D) Is a pupil who has a grade point average of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.

(2) A pupil appointed pursuant to this subdivision may not be used by a precinct board to tally votes.

(c) (1) In order to promote civic engagement among residents of the state and to provide additional members of precinct boards, an elections official may appoint not more than five nonvoters per precinct to serve as precinct board members. A nonvoter may be appointed, notwithstanding his or her lack of eligibility to vote, if the nonvoter possesses the following qualifications:

(A) Is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States, as defined in Section 101(a)(20) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(20)).

(B) Is otherwise eligible to register to vote pursuant to Section 2101 except for his or her lack of United States citizenship.

(2) A nonvoter appointed to a precinct board pursuant to this subdivision shall not be permitted to do either of the following:

(A) Serve as, or perform any of the duties of, the inspector of a precinct board.

(B) Tally votes for the precinct board.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.