Cal. ELEC § 17303

This is the official text of Cal. ELEC § 17303, 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) The following provisions apply to those elections in which candidates for one or more of the following offices are voted upon: President, Vice President, United States Senator, and United States Representative.

(b) The elections official shall preserve the package or packages containing the following items for a period of 22 months:

(1) Two tally sheets.

(2) The challenge lists.

(3) The assisted voters’ list.

(c) All voters may inspect the contents of the package or packages at all times following commencement of the official canvass of the votes.

(d) If a contest is not commenced within the 22-month period, or if a criminal prosecution involving fraudulent use, marking, or falsification of ballots, or forgery of vote by mail voters’ signatures is not commenced within the 22-month period, either of which may involve the vote of the precinct from which voted ballots were received, the elections official may have the packages destroyed or recycled.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in California?

Find a California lawyer
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.