0890 Secretary of State
Program Descriptions

20 - ELECTIONS

The Secretary of State, as California's chief elections officer, has broad responsibility to administer the election process. This program oversees all federal and state elections within California, maintaining a statewide database of all registered voters, tracks and certifies ballot measures, certifies candidates, and certifies election results. In addition, the program oversees the modernization of voting equipment and the improvement of current electoral database systems, enhancing the voting processes, providing accessibility to voters, working to increase people's knowledge of the electoral system, and investigates election related criminal violations as provided by California Elections Code.

This program includes the campaign and lobbying registration and disclosure provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974. Under this law, the Office registers all levels of campaign committees, and reviews for compliance with statutory requirements all state-level candidates and campaign recipients, major donor, slate mailer, political party, and independent expenditure committees. The program registers lobbyists (including placement agents), lobbying firms and lobbyist employers, reviews the periodic financial disclosure reports filed by lobbying entities, and publishes a Lobbying Directory on the Internet. This program also supports the electronic filing requirements of the Political Reform Act and posts relevant registration and disclosure information to the Office's web site so the public can track where campaign money is raised and spent and what lobbying activity is occurring in state government. A searchable database of campaign and lobbying financial activity is also provided through the web site.