---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: casting ballots."
description: "Existing law provides for the conduct of elections generally. Existing law prohibits the use of a voting system for an election unless it has been approved as meeting specified criteria by the Secretary of State prior to the election. Existing law defines a voting system as any mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic system and its software, or any combination of these used to cast or tabulate votes, or both."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1929"
citation: "California AB 1929 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: casting ballots."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gorell"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 28
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2012-02-22"
last_action: "2012-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/158cbc5a-3abb-4b37-90b7-5c3b27ec0905"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929"
source_hash: "0bc12ab2a630e636548d1702a4915f5d9fb08f19396896a439a06348b2fb4300"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1929 (20112012) — Elections: casting ballots.

Existing law provides for the conduct of elections generally. Existing law prohibits the use of a voting system for an election unless it has been approved as meeting specified criteria by the Secretary of State prior to the election. Existing law defines a voting system as any mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic system and its software, or any combination of these used to cast or tabulate votes, or both.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/22/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192999INT)
2. **04/16/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192998AMD)
3. **05/16/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192997AMD)
4. **05/21/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192996AMD)
5. **06/28/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192995AMD)
6. **09/28/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192993CHP)
7. **AB1929** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929)
8. **08/31/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1929&version=20110AB192994ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1929 GORELL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading (Urgency Clause) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1929 GORELL Third Reading Urgency — **74–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gorell — primary (person)
- Achadjian — coauthor (person)
- Cook — coauthor (person)
- Donnelly — coauthor (person)
- Galgiani — coauthor (person)
- Hagman — coauthor (person)
- Halderman — coauthor (person)
- Harkey — coauthor (person)
- Jeffries — coauthor (person)
- Miller — coauthor (person)
- Norby — coauthor (person)
- Olsen — coauthor (person)
- Portantino — coauthor (person)
- Silva — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2012-02-22** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-23** From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
- **2012-03-08** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-17** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-01** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2012-05-15** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (May 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-16** Read second time and amended. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-17** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-22** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-29** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 5052.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-29** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-06-07** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-07-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 16). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 4756.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-27** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6357.)
- **2012-08-27** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6368.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5:45 p.m.
- **2012-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 694, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/158cbc5a-3abb-4b37-90b7-5c3b27ec0905`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).