(a) Except as provided in subdivision (d), Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 2170), and Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 3400) and Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 3, the county elections official shall accept affidavits of registration at all times except during the 14 days immediately preceding an election, when registration shall cease for that election as to electors residing in the territory within which the election is held.
(b) Transfers of registration for an election may be made from one precinct to another precinct in the same county, from one county to another county, or for a residence address change within the same precinct at any time registration is in progress in the precinct or county to which the elector seeks to transfer. In lieu of executing a new affidavit of registration for a change of address, the county elections official shall accept a notice, a letter of the change of address signed by a voter as he or she is registered, or written notice.
The former address shall be maintained with the voter record and the registration of the voter shall be immediately updated.
(c) If the reregistration or transfer is from one county to another county, the county elections official of the county in which the voter was formerly registered shall be notified and the registration of the voter shall be immediately updated.
(d) The county elections official shall accept an affidavit of registration or a notification for the forthcoming election and shall immediately update the address on the voter’s affidavit of registration accordingly if the affidavit of registration or notification is executed on or before the 15th day prior to the election and if any of the following apply:
(1) The mailed affidavit of registration or notification is postmarked on or before the 15th day prior to the election and received by mail by the county elections official before the close of the polls on election day.
(2) The affidavit of registration or notification is submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles or accepted by any other public agency designated as a voter registration agency pursuant to the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. Sec. 20501 et seq.) on or before the 15th day prior to the election.
(3) The affidavit of registration or notification is delivered to the county elections official by means other than those described in paragraphs (1) and (2) on or before the 15th day prior to the election.
(4) The affidavit is submitted electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 2196 on or before the 15th day prior to the election.
(e) If the registration, reregistration, or notification is executed during the 14 days before an election or is executed on or before the 15th day prior to the election, but does not meet any of the conditions set forth in subdivision (d), the registration of the voter or the update to the registration of the voter shall be immediately processed, but the voter will not be eligible to vote in that election.
(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2017.
(Amended (as amended by Sec. 18) by Stats. 2015, Ch. 728, Sec. 19. (AB 1020) Effective January 1, 2016. Amendment operative January 1, 2017, pursuant to its own provisions.)