Under current California Election Code Section 2194 voter registration records are open to the public.   SB 112 (Monning-D- Santa Cruz/Monterey) as originally introduced would have established a 72-year waiting period for the public, and as amended places a 100-year waiting period for the public.  Voter registration cards are a valuable genealogical tool helping locate persons at a specific time—in between censuses that are available to the public– and provides such information as birth dates, signatures, address, country of origin, personal characteristics ( height, color of hair and eyes) and in 1994 California added the additional information: social security and driver’s license numbers.  The bill grants access  to candidates for office and to political campaigns, as well as to researchers and journalists, but not the general public. In the author’s fact sheet it states:” These access provisions do not include one of the most common reasons people want to access the historic roles, which is to learn about their genealogy or family history.” The fact sheet is not available on-line.

To read the bill go to: http://tinyurl.com/bchcko7

Original url:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0101-0150/sb_112_bill_20130307_amended_sen_v98.pdf

Another California code section– Public Records Act, section 6254.4, states that voter registration records are confidential.  It appears as if there are conflicts between the two sections