Beatie v. Davila

Opinion

FRANSON, J.

Introduction

We treat herein a question of first impression under California law: May an absentee voter after marking his ballot, placing and sealing it in the identification envelope, filling out and signing the envelope, then lawfully hand the envelope to a third party for mailing to the elections official from whence it came? As we shall explain, we conclude the procedure described above complies with the provisions of Elections Code section 1013 1 which governs the return of absentee ballots. Nevertheless, because of the possibility of fraud or illegal activity by third…