(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, a candidate, or a person authorized by the candidate, may submit a petition containing signatures of registered voters in lieu of a filing fee as follows:
(1) For the office of California State Assembly, 1,000 signatures.
(2) For the office of California State Senate and the United States House of Representatives, 2,000 signatures.
(3) For candidates running for statewide office, 7,000 signatures.
(4) For all other offices for which a filing fee is required, if the number of registered voters in the district in which a candidate seeks nomination is 2,000 or more, the candidate may submit a petition containing three signatures of registered voters for each dollar of the filing fee, or 7 percent of the total of registered voters in the district in which the candidate seeks nomination, whichever is less.
(5) For all other offices for which a filing fee is required, if the number of registered voters in the district in which a candidate seeks nomination is less than 2,000, the candidate may submit a petition containing three signatures of registered voters for each dollar of the filing fee, or 14 percent of the total of registered voters in the district in which the candidate seeks nomination, whichever is less.
(6) A voter may sign both a candidate’s nomination papers and in-lieu-filing-fee petition. However, if signatures appearing on the documents are counted towards both the nomination paper and the in-lieu-filing-fee petition signature requirements, a person may only sign one of the documents.
(b) The Secretary of State or an elections official shall furnish to each candidate, upon request, and without charge, forms for securing signatures. The number of forms that the elections official shall furnish a candidate shall be a quantity that provides the candidates with spaces for signatures sufficient in number to equal the number of signatures that the candidate is required to secure pursuant to subdivision (a) if the candidate desires that number of forms. However, the elections official, rather than provide the candidate with the number of forms set forth in the preceding sentence, or upon the request of a candidate, may provide the candidate with a master form that may be duplicated by the candidate at the candidate’s expense for the purpose of circulating additional petitions. The Secretary of State shall provide the master form. The elections official may provide candidates a form other than the master form provided by the Secretary of State. However, that form shall meet all statutory requirements, and the elections official shall also make available and accept the master form provided by the Secretary of State. All forms shall be made available commencing 60 days before the first day for circulating nomination papers. However, in cases of vacancies for which a special election is authorized or required to be held to fill the vacancy, and where the prescribed nomination period would commence less than 60 days after the creation of the vacancy, the forms shall be made available within five working days after the creation of the vacancy. No other form except the form furnished by the Secretary of State or the elections official or forms duplicated from a master form shall be used to secure signatures. Each petition section shall bear an affidavit signed by the circulator, in substantially the same form as set forth in Section 8041. The substitution of signatures for fees shall be subject to all of the following:
(1) Any registered voter may sign an in-lieu-filing-fee petition for any candidate for whom the voter is eligible to vote.
(2) If a voter signs more candidates’ petitions than there are offices to be filled, the voter’s signatures shall be valid only on those petitions that, taken in the order they were filed, do not exceed the number of offices to be filled.
(3) In-lieu-filing-fee petitions shall be filed at least 30 days before the close of the nomination period. Within 10 days after receipt of a petition, the elections official shall notify the candidate of any deficiency. The candidate shall then, at the time of obtaining nomination forms, pay a pro rata portion of the filing fee to cover the deficiency.
(4) If the petition is circulated for an office in more than one county, the candidate shall submit the signatures to the elections official in the county for which the petition was circulated. The elections official shall, at least two days after verifying the signatures on the petition, notify the Secretary of State of the total number of valid signatures. If the number of signatures is insufficient, the Secretary of State shall notify the candidate and the elections officials of the fact. The candidate may submit the necessary number of valid signatures at least 30 days before the close of the period for circulating nomination papers. Each circulator shall meet the requirements of Section 102.
(5) Each candidate may submit a greater number of signatures to allow for subsequent losses due to invalidity of some signatures. The elections official shall not be required to determine the validity of a greater number of signatures than that required by this section.
(c) For purposes of this section, the requisite number of signatures shall be computed from the latest registration figures forwarded to the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 2187 before the first day on which petitions are available.
(d) All valid signatures obtained pursuant to this section shall be counted toward the number of voters required to sign a nomination paper in accordance with Section 8061 or 8405.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 562, Sec. 4. (AB 1829) Effective January 1, 2020.)