republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-837.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "No party preference voters: partisan primary elections."
description: "Existing law requires a voter to disclose a preference for a political party in order to participate in the political party's primary election. Existing law permits a voter who has declined to disclose a political party preference to request the ballot of a political party at a partisan primary election if the political party, by party rule duly noticed to the Secretary of State, authorizes a voter who has declined to disclose a political party preference to vote the ballot of the political party at that election. Existing law requires the voter registration card, the vote by mail application, and the state voter information guide to notify voters that a voter is not entitled to vote the ballot of a political party at a partisan primary election unless he or she has disclosed a preference for the political party or he or she has declined to disclose a political party preference and the political party has authorized a voter who has declined to disclose a preference to vote its ballot."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 837"
citation: "California AB 837 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["No party preference voters: partisan primary elections."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Low"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-16"
last_action: "2017-10-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6b9b7765-0283-412a-81a1-ade4fd6fca11"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837"
source_hash: "adf837a14d00f4e3d27534ec69aa0fb6c00ce06b6e14b0e1821723ee6f5c045c"
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 837 (20172018) — No party preference voters: partisan primary elections.

Existing law requires a voter to disclose a preference for a political party in order to participate in the political party's primary election. Existing law permits a voter who has declined to disclose a political party preference to request the ballot of a political party at a partisan primary election if the political party, by party rule duly noticed to the Secretary of State, authorizes a voter who has declined to disclose a political party preference to vote the ballot of the political party at that election. Existing law requires the voter registration card, the vote by mail application, and the state voter information guide to notify voters that a voter is not entitled to vote the ballot of a political party at a partisan primary election unless he or she has disclosed a preference for the political party or he or she has declined to disclose a political party preference and the political party has authorized a voter who has declined to disclose a preference to vote its ballot.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837&version=20170AB83799INT)
2. **04/19/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837&version=20170AB83798AMD)
3. **08/28/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837&version=20170AB83797AMD)
4. **10/15/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837&version=20170AB83795CHP)
5. **AB837** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837)
6. **09/13/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB837&version=20170AB83796ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB837 Low By Allen — **27–13** (pass) · upper
- AB 837 LOW Assembly Third Reading — **58–20** (pass) · lower
- AB 837 LOW Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **54–20** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Low — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-19** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-10** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 58. Noes 20. Page 1541.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-15** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-24** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-10** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-07-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-08-28** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 13. Page 2571.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-07** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 9 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-11** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 54. Noes 20. Page 3136.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-10-15** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-15** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 819, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6b9b7765-0283-412a-81a1-ade4fd6fca11`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).