The California Secretary of State’s web page now has a footnote in its list of instructions for candidates, concerning petitions in lieu of filing fee. The web page’s instructions to candidates continues to say “Each circulator of an in-lieu-filing-fee petition shall be a registered voter of the district in which the candidate is running. The circulator shall serve within the county in which he or she resides. Election Code section 8106(b)(4).”

But, there is now a footnote #3, which says, “The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down statutes that require petition circulators to be registered voters. Other federal courts have struck down statutes that require petition circulators to reside within the state or locality affected by a petition, especially where requiring circulators to submit to jurisdiction by agreement would achieve the same end and would be more narrowly tailored to further the state’s interest in preventing fraud. The Secretary of State is constitutionally constrained from declaring a state statute invalid, and Elections Code section 8106, subdivision (b), subsection (4) has not been declared unconstitutional by any state or federal court in California. However, given the similarities between this statute and the provisions struck down in the foregoing cases, the Secretary of State does not recommend or support the enforcement of this statute against any petition circulator, especially where the petition circulator agrees to submit to local jurisdiction.”