---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election ballots: identical candidate names."
description: "Existing law sets forth the procedures, requirements, and specifications relating to ballots used in all elections. Existing law authorizes a person who is a candidate for any office to file a statement with the county elections official attesting to his or her belief that some other person with a similar name that may be confused with his or her name has filed or will file a nomination paper for the same office and requesting that a number be printed with his or her name on the ballot as a distinguishing mark. Existing law sets forth the type and placement requirements with respect to the distinguishing mark. Existing law requires the elections official to place a warning that there are candidates for the same office with identical names on the ballot, any sample ballot, ballot pamphlet, or other mailing sent by the official."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 1316"
citation: "California AB 1316 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Election ballots: identical candidate names."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Harkey"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2013-02-22"
last_action: "2013-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4eb9785f-571d-4007-95c9-3b67bf66097f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1316"
source_hash: "bf02113580f2a9e6b38e1df8f8da87b9a22501bdf3251b93307858e0ca72f490"
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 1316 (20132014) — Election ballots: identical candidate names.

Existing law sets forth the procedures, requirements, and specifications relating to ballots used in all elections. Existing law authorizes a person who is a candidate for any office to file a statement with the county elections official attesting to his or her belief that some other person with a similar name that may be confused with his or her name has filed or will file a nomination paper for the same office and requesting that a number be printed with his or her name on the ballot as a distinguishing mark. Existing law sets forth the type and placement requirements with respect to the distinguishing mark. Existing law requires the elections official to place a warning that there are candidates for the same office with identical names on the ballot, any sample ballot, ballot pamphlet, or other mailing sent by the official.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1316&version=20130AB131699INT)
2. **04/16/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1316&version=20130AB131698AMD)
3. **08/13/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1316&version=20130AB131696CHP)
4. **AB1316** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1316)
5. **07/10/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1316&version=20130AB131697ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations Recommend Consent. — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1316 HARKEY Consent Calendar Second Day — **75–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Harkey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-22** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2013-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 26.
- **2013-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2013-03-14** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-15** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2013-04-16** Read second time and amended. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2013-04-17** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2013-05-02** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-05-06** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-05-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1344.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-05-09** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2013-05-23** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2013-06-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-06-24** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2013-06-25** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-07-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 0. Page 1607.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-07-01** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2013-08-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:45 p.m.
- **2013-08-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-08-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 106, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4eb9785f-571d-4007-95c9-3b67bf66097f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).