Public corruption

Penal Code 165 bribery of local elected officials

Every person who gives or offers a bribe to any member of any common council, board of supervisors, or board of trustees of any county, city and county, city, or public corporation, with intent to corruptly influence such member in his action on any matter or subject pending before, or which is afterward to be considered by, the body of which he is a member, and every member of any of the bodies mentioned in this section who receives, or offers or agrees to receive any bribe upon any understanding that his official vote, opinion, judgment, or action shall be influenced thereby, or shall be given in any particular manner or upon any particular side of any question or matter, upon which he may be required to act in his official capacity, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years, and upon conviction thereof shall, in addition to said punishment, forfeit his office, and forever be disfranchised and disqualified from holding any public office or trust.

Gov Code 9054 Bribery of legislator

Every person who obtains, or seeks to obtain, money or other thing of value from another person upon a pretense, claim, or representation that he can or will improperly influence in any manner the action of any member of a legislative body in regard to any vote or legislative matter, is guilty of a felony. Upon the trial no person otherwise competent as a witness may be excused from testifying concerning the offense charged on the grounds that the testimony may criminate himself, or subject him to public infamy. The testimony shall not afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding except for perjury in giving the testimony.

Eligibility for public officer

Irrigation district

Water Code 21100, subdivision (c), as amended by SB1939 in 2000 says:

(c) In a district providing retail electricity for residents of the district, each director, except as otherwise provided in this division, shall be a voter of the district and a resident of the division that he or she represents at the time of his or her nomination or appointment and during his or her entire term, . . . . .

Election Code 349:

(a) “Residence” for voting purposes means a person’s domicile.

(b) The domicile of a person is that place in which his or her habitation is fixed, wherein the person has the intention of remaining, and to which, whenever he or she is absent, the person has the intention of returning. At a given time, a person may have only one domicile.

(c) The residence of a person is that place in which the person’s habitation is fixed for some period of time, but wherein he or she does not have the intention of remaining. At a given time, a person may have more than one residence.

Government Code section 244 says:

In determining the place of residence the following rules shall be observed:

(a) It is the place where one remains when not called elsewhere for labor or other special or temporary purpose, and to which he or she returns in seasons of repose.

(b) There can only be one residence.

(c) A residence cannot be lost until another is gained.

(d) The residence of the parent with whom an unmarried minor child maintains his or her place of abode is the residence of such unmarried minor child.

(e) The residence of an unmarried minor who has a parent living cannot be changed by his or her own act.

(f) The residence can be changed only by the union of act and intent.

(g) A married person shall have the right to retain his or her legal residence in the State of California notwithstanding the legal residence or domicile of his or her spouse.

Residence and domicile for purposes of elections are essentially the same. (Walters v. Weed (1988) 45 Cal.3d 1, 7.) A change in domicile requires an intent to live there. (DeMiglio v. Mashore (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 1260, 1268.) As in, “whether there is an intent to return or an intent to make a new home.” (Ibid.)

In the context of determining a person's residence for the purpose of registering to vote, or running for certain elected positions, residence means domicile, a place in which a person's habitation is fixed, wherein she has the intention of remaining, and to which, whenever she is absent, she has the intention of returning. At any given time, a person may have only one domicile, and a person does not lose their domicile, or gain a new one, by going to another place for a temporary purpose. However, residence does not always mean domicile. Residence can also mean a place in which a person's habitation is fixed for some shorter period, but wherein she does not have the intention of remaining indefinitely. At any given time, a person may have more than one residence for various purposes other than voting or running for office.

False nomination paperwork would be prosecuted under Elections Code 18203.

Perjury is Penal Code 118.

Voter registration history

The nomination paperwork

DMV records, including both license and vehicle registration

Property records

USPS records about change-of-address

FPPC filings

Firearm purchase records

Social media

CLEAR / Lexis

License Plate Readers

Business filing with Secretary of State

Witness interviews

Surveillance

Lease agreements

Call records

Cell phone location data

With some qualifications, a person must generally be a resident of the state in order to qualify as an elector,1 and an "elector" is a resident of an election precinct in California on or before the day of an election.2 "Residence" for voting purposes means a person's domicile.3 The domicile of a person is that place in which his or her habitation is fixed, wherein the person has the intention of remaining, and to which, whenever he or she is absent, the person has the intention of returning. At a given time, a person may have only one domicile.4 The residence of a person is that place in which the person's habitation is fixed for some period of time but wherein he or she does not have the intention of remaining. At a given time, a person may have more than one residence.5 One purpose of the requirement of residence is to afford some assurance that the voter has become a member of the community.6 It preserves the basic conception of a political community, and therefore can withstand even close scrutiny on a claim under the First Amendment.7 Caution: California requires that candidates register to vote before filing nomination papers.8 Registering to vote, in turn, requires candidates to complete a registration form and, as stated above, to reside in the state. California's requirement that candidates for membership in the United States House of Representatives reside in California when filing nomination papers violates the United States Constitution's Qualifications Clause9 inasmuch as it handicaps a class of nonresident candidates who otherwise would satisfy the Qualifications Clause.10 The Elections Code provides specifically for the determination of residence and domicile.11 Residence in a trailer or vehicle or at any public camp or camping ground may constitute a domicile for voting purposes if the registrant complies with the other statutory requirements.12 For voting purposes, the term of domicile is computed by including the day on which a person's domicile commenced and by excluding the day of the election.13 The domicile of a member of the legislature or a representative in the Congress of the United States is conclusively presumed to be at the residence address indicated on that person's currently filed affidavit of registration, as long as the address is a residence as defined in the Elections Code,14 and notwithstanding that the member or representative may have another residence at which certain conditions apply.15 This presumption applies only if the address indicated on the member's currently filed affidavit of voter registration is one of the member's legal residences.16 A person domiciled in a house or apartment lying in more than one precinct will be registered as domiciled in the precinct designated by the county elections official on the basis of the street address or other precinct that the county elections official considers appropriate unless the person requests, either by letter or in person at the office of the county elections official, that he or she wishes to be domiciled for registration purposes in another precinct in which his or her house or apartment lies. In order to fulfill the requirements of this statute, the letter of request must include the name, signature, and residence address of the requester.17 A new resident, which means a person who meets all requirements of an elector of the State of California except that his or her residency was established subsequent to the 15th day prior to the election, is eligible to vote for President and Vice President and for no other office.18 A rational basis test applies to a determination of whether the equal protection clause prevents a city from using a residency requirement to determine who can vote on the city's imposition of a tax when nonresident landowners are the largest source of revenue under the tax, where the election is not one of special interest, and the expenditure of funds to be raised by the tax is to provide benefits that are not limited to special interests.19

1 § 37.

2 § 37.

3 Elec. Code, § 349, subd. (a).

4 Elec. Code, § 349, subd. (b).

5 Elec. Code, § 349, subd. (c).

6 Bryan v. Regents of University of Cal., 188 Cal. 559, 205 P. 1071 (1922).

7 Chula Vista Citizens for Jobs and Fair Competition v. Norris, 782 F.3d 520 (9th Cir. 2015).

8 Elec. Code, § 201.

9 U.S. Const. Art. I, § 2, cl. 2.

10 Schaefer v. Townsend, 215 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2000). As to registration, see §§ 58 to 83.

11 Elec. Code, §§ 2020 to 2035.

12 Elec. Code, § 2027.

13 Elec. Code, § 2020.

14 Elec. Code, § 349, subd. (c).

15 Elec. Code, § 2026.

16 People v. Superior Court (Wright), 197 Cal. App. 4th 511, 128 Cal. Rptr. 3d 362 (2d Dist. 2011).

17 Elec. Code, § 2034.

18 Elec. Code, § 332.

19 Neilson v. City of California City, 133 Cal. App. 4th 1296, 35 Cal. Rptr. 3d 453 (5th Dist. 2005).