Registrar of Voters

San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Data and Services Use Restrictions, Permissible Access, Disclaimer, Terms and Conditional Use

Use Restrictions on Voter Registration and Vote-by-Mail Information

  1. The information furnished on the Application for Data or Services is subject to verification. The applicant shall only use the information set forth in affidavits of registration of voters and any information derived from said electronic data processing information, including Vote-by-Mail records (hereinafter collectively referred to as “registration information”) will be used ONLY FOR ELECTION, SCHOLARLY, POLITICAL, JOURNALISTIC OR GOVERNMENTAL PURPOSES, as defined by Title 2, Division 7, Article 1, Section 19003 of the California Code of Regulations, and Elections Code Section 2194 and Government Code Section 6254.4.
  2. The Applicant (as principal or agent) further agrees NOT to sell, lease, loan or deliver possession of the registration information, or a copy thereof, or any portion thereof, in any form or format, to any person, organization or agency without first submitting a new application and receiving written authorization from the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters to release such registration information.
  3. Willful violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. EC §18109).
  4. In addition, subject to provision of Title 2, Division 7, Article 1, Section 19001 through 19007 of the California Code of Regulations, the Applicant agrees to pay the State of California, as compensation for any unauthorized use of each individual’s registration information, an amount equal to the sum of fifty cents ($.50) multiplied by the number of times each registration record is used by the applicant in an unauthorized manner.

Permissible and Non-permissible Access to Voter Registration Information Under EC § 2187, 2188, 2194; GC § 6254.4 Persons who have access to any registration information include those who are using the information for the following purposes

  1. Election: Voter registration information must be made available to anyone wishing to communicate with voters in connection with any election. For example, persons, who are in connection with a specific candidate or campaign, wish to run a phone bank, walk precincts.
  2. Scholarly: Students working on a thesis, professors researching voting patterns and other academics involved in research.
  3. Journalistic: Members of the press are permitted access.
  4. Political: For example, persons wishing to communicate with voters concerning legislation, vendors who provide information only to candidates, ballot measure committees, political parties and persons or organizations communicating with the voters about political issues whether or not this use is in conjunction with a specific election.
  5. Governmental: The Jury Commissioner, District Attorney, Public Defender or employees acting on behalf of other public government agencies are permitted access.
    Examples of persons who do not have access to voter registration information:
  6. Persons seeking to locate lost relatives.
  7. Persons, such as private investigators, skip tracers, process servers and attorneys, seeking to locate individuals, unless those persons are employed by or have been contracted by a public government agency.

Disclaimer for GIS and Mapping Products

    1. San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters’ GIS products are supplemental digital spatial data and visual renderings of data available and maintained by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters and should not be used as a substitute for the data contained in the Master Voter File, Street Index or Precinct-District File or data from other County Departments. The geographic information is derived from the San ROV’s Election Management System and the San Joaquin County GIS Database. Users are advised to use this data appropriately. Maps provided by the ROV are not survey products.
  2. The data products provided by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters are based on a snapshot of a dynamic database. The underlying data are constantly changing. Our GIS data is generally shown as a snapshot applicable for one election but cannot be considered an authoritative source of data for that data.
  3. The County of San Joaquin does not warrant that the GIS product furnished will meet the applicant’s requirements, or that their use will be uninterrupted or error free. The GIS product is furnished “as is” and the County of San Joaquin makes no warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the GIS product furnished is with the applicant. The automated conversion of information and data from the system and format used by the County of San Joaquin to an alternate system or format cannot be accomplished without the possibility of introduction of inexactitudes, anomalies, and errors.
  4. In the event the GIS product provided to the applicant in the machine-readable form are so converted, the applicant agrees to assume all risks associated therewith, and to defend, to hold harmless and indemnify the County of San Joaquin from and against any claims, liabilities, losses, damages and costs, including but not limited to attorneys’ fees, arising there from or in connection therewith.

Terms and Conditional Use of Voter Data and GIS Products

  1. Hold Harmless. The applicant recognizes that changes or modifications to the Registrar of Voters Data or GIS products introduced by anyone other than the County of San Joaquin may result in adverse consequences which the County of San Joaquin can neither predict nor control. Therefore, and in consideration of the County of San Joaquin’s agreement to provide the product the applicant agrees, to defend, to hold harmless and indemnify the County of San Joaquin from and against all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and costs, including, but not limited to attorneys’ fees arising out of or in any way connected with the modification, misrepresentation, misuse or reuse by others of the machine-readable and photographic information and data provided by the County of San Joaquin under this agreement. The foregoing indemnification applies, without limitation, to any use of the Registrar of Voters Data or GIS products on other projects, for additions to this project, or for completion of this project by others, excepting only such use as may be authorized, in writing, by the County of San Joaquin.
  2. Attribution. Applicant shall print the following attribution whenever producing a hard copy plot containing substantial elements of GIS product: “Source: County of San Joaquin Registrar of Voters.”
  3. Liability. The County of San Joaquin shall not be liable for any activity involving the GIS or other data product.
  4. Copyrights and/or Patents. The copyrights and/or patents for all or any of the work and materials used in creating the GIS product shall be vested in the County of San Joaquin, exclusively. The applicant shall not challenge or act in any way inconsistent with or detrimental to the copyright and/or patent of the County of San Joaquin in the product.
  5. Remedy. a) Applicant’s sole and exclusive remedy for breach of the limited warranty will be to return the GIS product within (30) days of receipt. b) The County of San Joaquin Registrar of Voters Department shall, at its discretion, retain the GIS product returned because of physical defect and refund the fee for the GIS product, or replace the GIS product, or repair the GIS product and return it to the applicant. c) In the event that this authority to use is terminated, and the GIS or data product is returned for applicants failure to comply with the terms and conditions, the County of San Joaquin shall retain all fees paid for the product and retains the right to take any other appropriate action to protect its rights in the product, and under this agreement.