BILL NUMBER: SB 610 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 530
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 25, 2003
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2003
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 5, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 18, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 16, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 2, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Senator Escutia
(Principal coauthor: Senator Karnette)
(Coauthors: Senators Ducheny, Kuehl, Romero, and Soto)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chavez, Reyes, and Yee)
FEBRUARY 20, 2003
An act to amend Section 12302 of, to amend , repeal, and add
Section 12309 of, and to add Section 12309.5 to, the Elections Code,
relating to elections.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 610, Escutia. Elections: poll workers.
Existing law requires that each member of a precinct board be a
voter of the county, except that an elections official may appoint
not more than 2 students per precinct to serve under the direct
supervision of designated board members, as specified.
This bill would revise that provision to authorize the appointment
of not more than 5 students per precinct, and would, instead,
provide that a precinct board member must be a voter of the state.
Existing law requires local elections officials, following the
appointment of members of precinct boards, to instruct inspectors in
connection with the conduct of the election, as specified.
This bill would make these provisions inoperative as of June 30,
2005, and instead require the Secretary of State to appoint a task
force of at least 12 members to recommend uniform guidelines for the
training of precinct board members, by January 1, 2005. The bill
would require the Secretary of State to adopt uniform standards,
based on these recommendations, by June 30, 2005.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) The recent election problems in Florida and elsewhere have
highlighted the need for top-to-bottom review of the election
process.
(b) California has made significant progress and leads the nation
in many key areas that are now models for reform in other states,
such as the establishment of a statewide voter registration database
to identify and remove duplicate registrations, strong
list-maintenance procedures to ensure the accuracy of the voter
rolls, and provisional voting at the polling place.
(c) The Secretary of State has decertified specific punch card
voting systems to eliminate potential problems associated with
examining chads in determining voter intent and to move California
away from obsolete voting systems and toward more modern voting
equipment. This decertification will require nine counties,
including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, Sacramento, and San
Bernardino Counties, to implement new voting systems. In addition,
many other California counties are also seeking to upgrade election
systems and equipment.
(d) The administration of elections is becoming increasingly
complicated and reliant on new technology, thereby requiring
elections officials to obtain new education, expertise, and skills to
minimize risk of error.
(e) The accurate and efficient administration of elections depends
in large part on the knowledge and ability of the citizen volunteers
who staff polling places on election day. It is increasingly
difficult to recruit and retain poll workers with the knowledge and
skills to ensure an accurate and efficient election.
(f) The state has a responsibility to act prudently to minimize
the risk of failure of any part of an election, since such a failure
would have an unacceptably negative impact on the public's confidence
in the accuracy and integrity of the elections process.
(g) The state has a responsibility to ensure the accurate,
efficient, and uniform application of election law, regulation, and
procedure.
(h) While California has made significant progress in the last
decade in reforming the statutes and procedures that govern the
administration of elections, and has moved forward to provide voters
with more modern voting equipment, the possibility for disruption of
elections, by accident or design, requires the state to establish a
reform program to assist local elections officials in emergency
situations and to also provide for procedures to promote the uniform
and accurate administration of elections.
SEC. 2. Section 12302 of the Elections Code is amended to read:
12302. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), a member of a
precinct board shall be a voter of the state. The member may serve
only in the precinct for which his or her appointment is received.
(b) In order to provide for a greater awareness of the elections
process, the rights and responsibilities of voters and the importance
of participating in the electoral process, as well as to provide
additional members of precinct boards, an elections official may
appoint not more than five students per precinct to serve under the
direct supervision of precinct board members designated by the
elections official. A student may be appointed, notwithstanding lack
of eligibility to vote, subject to the approval of the board of the
educational institution in which the student is enrolled, if the
student possesses the following qualifications:
(1) Is at least 16 years of age at the time of the election to
which he or she is serving as a member of a precinct board.
(2) Is a United States citizen or will be a citizen at the time of
the election to which he or she is serving as a member of a precinct
board.
(3) Is a student in good standing attending a public or private
secondary educational institution.
(4) Is a senior and has a grade point average of at least 2.5 on a
4.0 scale.
(c) A student appointed pursuant to subdivision (b) may not be
used by a precinct board to tally votes.
SEC. 3. Section 12309 of the Elections Code is amended to read:
12309. (a) Following the appointment of members of precinct
boards, the elections official shall instruct inspectors so appointed
concerning their duties in connection with the conduct of the
election, which instruction shall include all of the following:
(1) A summary of the rights of voters.
(2) The lawful grounds for challenge.
(3) The proper tabulating procedures.
(4) Specific directions that the polls shall be kept open to the
public during voting hours and throughout the period required for the
tabulation of the vote.
(5) A digest of election laws.
(6) Any other subjects that shall assist the inspectors in
carrying out their duties.
(b) No person shall serve as an inspector of a precinct board at
the election unless instruction has been received in accordance with
this section, except that in the case of the emergency disability of
a regular inspector, substitute inspectors shall be given any
instruction found necessary by the elections official.
(c) At the request of the elections official, the legislative body
may contract with any qualified person or organization for purposes
of instructing inspectors in accordance with this section.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2005, and, as
of January 1, 2006, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2006, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 4. Section 12309 is added to the Elections Code, to read:
12309. (a) Following the appointment of members of precinct
boards, the elections official shall instruct inspectors so appointed
concerning their duties in connection with the conduct of the
election, which instruction shall conform to the uniform standards
adopted by the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 12309.5.
(b) A person may not serve as an inspector of a precinct board at
an election unless instruction has been received in accordance with
this section except that, in the case of the emergency disability of
a regular inspector, substitute inspectors shall be given any
instruction found necessary by the elections official.
(c) At the request of the elections official, the legislative body
may contract with any qualified person or organization for purposes
of instructing inspectors in accordance with this section.
(d) This section shall become operative on June 30, 2005.
SEC. 5. Section 12309.5 is added to the Elections Code, to read:
12309.5. (a) No later than June 30, 2005, the Secretary of State
shall adopt uniform standards for the training of precinct board
members, based upon the recommendations of the task force appointed
pursuant to subdivision (b). The uniform standards shall, at a
minimum, address the following:
(1) The rights of voters, including, but not limited to, language
access rights for linguistic minorities, the disabled, and protected
classes as referenced and defined in the federal Voting Rights Act
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973 et seq.).
(2) Election challenge procedures such as challenging precinct
administrator misconduct, fraud, bribery, or discriminatory voting
procedures as referenced and defined in the federal Voting Rights Act
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973 et seq.).
(3) Operation of a jurisdiction's voting system, including, but
not limited to, modernized voting systems, touch-screen voting, and
proper tabulation procedures.
(4) Poll hours.
(5) Relevant election laws and any other subjects that will assist
an inspector in carrying out his or her duties.
(6) Cultural competency, including, but not limited to, having
adequate knowledge of diverse cultures, including languages, that may
be encountered by a poll worker during the course of an election,
and the appropriate skills to work with the electorate.
(7) Knowledge regarding issues confronting voters who have
disabilities, including, but not limited to, access barriers and need
for reasonable accommodations.
(8) Procedures involved with provisional, fail-safe provisional,
absentee, and provisional absentee voting.
(b) The Secretary of State shall appoint a task force of at least
12 members who have experience in the administration of elections and
other relevant backgrounds to study and recommend uniform guidelines
for the training of precinct board members. The task force consists
of the chief elections officer of the two largest counties, the two
smallest counties, and two county elections officers selected by the
Secretary of State, or their designees. The Secretary of State shall
appoint at least six other members who have elections expertise, or
their designees, including members of community-based organizations
that may include citizens familiar with different ethnic, cultural,
and disabled populations to ensure that the task force is
representative of the state's diverse electorate. The task force
shall make its recommendations available for public review and
comment prior to their submission to the Secretary of State and the
Legislature.
(c) The task force shall file its recommendations with the
Secretary of State and the Legislature no later than January 1, 2005.