(a) Upon receipt of any vote by mail ballot application signed by the voter that arrives within the proper time, the elections official should determine if the signature and residence address on the ballot application appear to be the same as that on the original affidavit of registration. The elections official may make this signature check upon receiving the voted ballot, but the signature must be compared before the vote by mail voter ballot is canvassed.

(b) If the elections official deems the applicant entitled to a vote by mail voter’s ballot he or she shall deliver by mail or in person the appropriate ballot. The ballot may be delivered to the applicant, his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or a person residing in the same household as the vote by mail voter, except that in no case shall the ballot be delivered to an individual under 16 years of age. The elections official shall deliver the vote by mail ballot to the applicant’s spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or a person residing in the same household as the vote by mail voter only if that person signs a statement attested to under penalty of perjury that provides the name of the applicant and his or her relationship to the applicant, and affirms that he or she is 16 years of age or older, and is authorized by the applicant to deliver the vote by mail ballot.

(c) If the elections official determines that an application does not contain all of the information prescribed in Section 3001 or 3006, or for any other reason is defective, and the elections official is able to ascertain the voter’s address, the elections official shall, within one working day of receiving the application, mail the voter a vote by mail voter’s ballot together with a notice. The notice shall inform the voter that the voter’s vote by mail voter’s ballot shall not be counted unless the applicant provides the elections official with the missing information or corrects the defects prior to, or at the time of, receipt of the voter’s executed vote by mail voter’s ballot. The notice shall specifically inform the voter of the information that is required or the reason for the defects in the application, and shall state the procedure necessary to remedy the defective application.

If the voter substantially complies with the requirements contained in the elections official’s notice, the voter’s ballot shall be counted.

In determining from the records of registration if the signature and residence address on the application appear to be the same as that on the original affidavit of registration, the elections official or registrar of voters may use facsimiles of voters’ signatures, provided that the method of preparing and displaying the facsimiles complies with law.

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 728, Sec. 71. (AB 1020) Effective January 1, 2016. Operative September 26, 2016, when the Secretary of State issued the certification prescribed by Stats. 2015, Ch. 728, Sec. 88.)