BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1654
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 17, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Curren Price, Chair
AB 1654 (Huffman) - As Introduced: February 23, 2007
SUBJECT : Mail ballot elections: statewide and local elections.
SUMMARY : Allows any local, special, primary, or general
election to be conducted as an all-mailed ballot election.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals provisions of existing law that specify the current
conditions under which an election may be conducted entirely
by mailed ballot.
2)Allows any local, special, primary, or general election to be
conducted as an all-mailed ballot election subject to the
following conditions:
a) The governing body of the city, county, or district, by
resolution, authorizes the all-mailed ballot election and
notifies the Secretary of State (SOS) of its intent to
conduct an all-mailed ballot election at least 88 days
prior to the date of the election.
b) The elections official delivers to each registered voter
in the jurisdiction all supplies necessary for the use and
return of the ballot.
c) The city, county, or district must provide an
appropriate number of polling places at convenient
locations for voters to cast their votes in person.
d) The return of voted mail ballots is subject to existing
procedures governing the return of absentee ballots.
e) The jurisdiction is not covered by the preclearance
requirements of Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act
of 1965.
f) The city, county, or district conducting the election by
mail shall provide an appropriate number of locations for
voters to deposit their ballots directly into its custody
without mailing the ballots back.
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g) The city, county, or district conducting the election by
mail shall provide focused education and outreach programs
to voters, explaining the vote-by-mail procedure and new
voting requirements in every language a ballot is made
available to voters.
3)Requires a jurisdiction that conducts an all-mailed ballot
election to report to the Legislature and to the SOS regarding
the benefits and challenges of the election, including, but
not limited to, any statistics on the increase of voter fraud.
4)Requires the elections official to mail by nonforwardable mail
an official ballot with a return identification envelope and
secrecy envelope no sooner than the 29th day before the date
of the election and no later than the seventh day before the
date of the election, to each voter in the precinct who was
registered as of the 29th day prior to the election.
5)Requires the elections official to mail by nonforwardable mail
an official ballot with a return identification envelope and
secrecy envelope no later than three days before the date of
the election to each voter in the precinct who was registered
as of the 15th day prior to the election.
6)Provides that all of the following apply to an all-mailed
ballot election held on the date of a primary election:
a) The elections official shall mail the official ballot of
a qualified political party to each voter who is registered
as being affiliated with the qualified political party as
of the 29th day before the date of a primary election.
b) A voter who is not affiliated with a political party
shall be mailed the ballot of a qualified political party
in whose primary the voter wishes to vote if the voter has
requested a partisan ballot from the elections official.
7)Requires an all-mailed ballot election to be conducted in
accordance with the procedures that govern absentee voting,
except where those procedures are inconsistent with this bill.
8)Requires the elections official to notify each voter of the
location of the polling place or places in each city within
the jurisdiction.
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9)Requires the elections official to provide, at any location
where ballots may be returned, suitable compartments, shelves,
or tables at which voters may mark their ballots.
10)Requires the voting instructions or voter information
pamphlet to contain the following warning:
Any person who, by use of force or other means, unduly
influences a voter to vote in any particular manner or to
refrain from voting, is subject, upon conviction, to
imprisonment or to a fine, or both, as provided in Chapter
6 (commencing with Section 18500) of Division 18 of the
Elections Code.
11)Re-numbers two sections of the Elections Code.
12)Contains various findings and declarations about voting by
mail.
13)Contains an urgency clause.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Permits an election to be conducted wholly by mail if the
governing body authorizes the use of mailed ballots for the
election, the election occurs on an established mailed ballot
election date, and the election is one of the following:
a) An election in which no more than 1,000 registered
voters are eligible to participate;
b) A maximum property tax rate election;
c) An election in a district with 5,000 or fewer registered
voters that is restricted to the imposition of special
taxes, expenditure limitation overrides, or both;
d) An election on the issuance of a general obligation
water bond;
e) An election in one of four specifically enumerated water
districts; or,
f) An election or assessment ballot proceeding required or
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authorized by the state constitution.
2)Authorizes a school district or city with a population of
100,000 or less to conduct an all-mail ballot election to fill
a vacancy in a special election.
3)Authorizes a district to conduct any election as an all-mailed
ballot election on any date other than an established election
date.
4)Permits any registered voter to apply for and receive an
absentee ballot.
5)Permits any voter to become a permanent absentee voter.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Voter participation is at an all-time low. At the same
time, more and more Californians are turning to voting by
mail by voting absentee. Providing alternatives to polling
place voting is a logical way to increase voter turnout.
Conducting elections by mail will also cut the costs of
elections to counties, resulting in significant savings to
taxpayers. Under current law, local jurisdictions may
conduct local and special elections by mail, but only under
limited circumstances.
Mail ballot voting has increased steadily in California for
over 40 years. Nearly half of the state's votes are now
cast by mail. In the 2006 primary, 46.9% of the ballots
were cast by mail and in the 2006 general election, nearly
42% of the ballots were cast by mail. Of the 58 counties,
16 received more ballots by mail than at polling places.
In 1998, Oregon voters approved Ballot Measure 60, which
required all elections in Oregon to be conducted entirely
by mail. In 2003, a University of Oregon study found that
more than 80% of Oregon voters preferred voting by mail.
Additionally, since Oregon has moved to voting by mail,
voter turnout in Oregon has been among the highest in the
nation. In the 1998 general election, the last election in
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Oregon not conducted entirely by mail, the state had the
tenth highest turnout in the nation. In 2002, Oregon had
the fifth highest turnout in the nation. By 2004, it was
fourth. The change to vote by mail has also saved Oregon
taxpayers 30% in election-related overhead costs.
In 2005, the Washington State legislature authorized
counties to vote entirely by mail. As a result, turnout
has increased significantly. In the 2006 general election,
89% of votes were cast by mail and turnout was up 8% from
the last non-presidential even year election. In the 2006
primary, 93% of votes were cast by mail and turnout was up
4.5%. In those counties that continue to have poll sites,
voting by mail is strongly favored by voters.
In jurisdictions which opt to conduct elections by mail, AB
1654 will increase voter turnout by providing voters with
more time and greater flexibility in voting. Elections
conducted by mail have several advantages over traditional
polling place elections. Voters have a longer opportunity
to study the ballot issues and make informed decisions.
Voter rolls are easier to accurately maintain. Voting by
mail is more cost-effective and easier to administer than
polling place elections. Further, voting by mail removes
barriers to voting like long lines, limited parking, and
time constraints on voters from work and family.
2)Arguments in Support : Reflective of the letters received in
support of this bill is a letter from the California State
Association of Counties (CSAC). CSAC writes:
All-mail balloting is gaining in popularity since it was
first introduced in California in 1977. Today, some of the
smallest counties in the state conduct only all-mail ballot
elections, while larger counties, such as Calaveras, Marin,
Sonoma, and Santa Barbara, report more than 46 percent of
ballots cast in last fall's Gubernatorial election were
done so through the absentee ballot system. Statewide,
initial figures indicate that fully 26 percent of the
electorate chose to vote by mail. Also, in Oregon, which
conducts all elections by mail, a whopping 84 percent of
eligible voters vote in the last election. Clearly the
electorate is increasingly turning to voting by mail via
absentee ballot as a more convenient way to participate in
the electoral process.
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Not only does CSAC believe that AB 1654 would increase
voter participation, but it is a cost effective measure, as
well. Recent data from California elections reveals that
all-mail ballot elections cost up to 30 percent less than
traditional polling place contests. Again, AB 1654 would
not abolish the polling place, as it still requires
elections officials to designate polling locations and
local drop-off points for ballots. AB 1654 merely allows
elections officials to focus on the all-mail balloting
method, thereby eliminating the costs associated with
traditional elections, such as the hiring of poll workers
and the upkeep and operation of expensive electronic
polling equipment.
In short, AB 1654 has the potential to increase voter
turnout, ensure election accuracy, and reduce state and
local election costs.
Also in support of this bill, the Regional Council of Rural
Counties notes that, given the continued uncertainty over
state and federal laws governing the use of voting machines,
this bill will help "minimize a county's legal exposure in the
future" if new requirements prohibit the use of voting systems
that are currently certified for use in the state.
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3)Arguments in Opposition : In opposition to this bill, the
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund writes:
We are concerned . . . that AB 1654 may sacrifice
participation and turnout, especially among low-income and
Latino voters, in the interest of expediency and cost
avoidance.
While there is no definitive research on the impact of
mail-only election on minority voter turnout, data from the
Statewide Data Base at the University of California
Berkeley demonstrates that minority and low-income voters
prefer, by large margins, to cast their votes at a polling
place. In the 2004 general election, 78% of Latino voters,
76% of voters in heavily African-American areas, 71% of
voters in low-income poor areas, and 75% of 18-34 year olds
voted at the polls. AB 1654 would eliminate the preferred
option for these voters and result in some of them
declining to cast a ballot.
Also in opposition to this bill, the Asian Pacific American
Legal Center (APALC) writes:
We have concerns about the implementation of vote-by-mail
elections in a state such as California. While other
states such as Oregon have vote-by-mail elections,
California's diverse population presents unique concerns
that necessitate caution before authorizing jurisdictions
to conduct vote-by-mail elections. We have the following
concerns about AB 1654:
Counties subject to the language
assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act . . .
will face challenges in conducting vote-by-mail
elections. Presumably a county would either need to
send translated ballot materials to every voter in
the county, or mail notices to all voters informing
them of their right to request translated materials.
If a county does merely the latter, then we are
concerned that even with efforts to educate voters
about vote-by-mail, many limited English proficient
voters will not request translated materials and
will have to rely on English language materials to
cast their vote. This is in contrast to polling
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places where voters can pick up translated materials
on election day even if they did not request them in
advance.
In a vote-by-mail election, voters would
be unable to take advantage of state language
assistance provisions that supplement the Voting
Rights Act. For example, Sections 14201 and 12303
of the Elections Code provide for language
assistance at polling places based on a lower
population threshold than what is required to
provide language assistance under the Voting Rights
Act. Section 14201 requires such polling places to
have translated copies of ballots and ballot
instructions, and Section 12303 requires counties to
actively recruit bilingual poll workers at such
polling places. However, both of these provisions
apply to polling places . . .on election day, and
voters would be unable to benefit from these
provisions in a vote-by-mail jurisdiction.
Additionally, we are concerned about the
amount of voter education it would take to ensure
that voters who are unfamiliar with the absentee
voting process do not fall through the cracks. We
are particularly concerned about the amount of
education that would be required to reach the new
immigrant voters who are continually added to
California's voter registration rolls.
Another concern is that voters from
populations with high rates of mobility, including
some Asian American ethnic groups, will not receive
their absentee ballots in the mail. Election day
polling places provide the important safeguard of
provisional ballots for voters who do not receive
their ballot materials in the mail, allowing them to
still cast their vote.
Also in opposition to the bill, the National Association of
Latino Elected & Appointed Officials expresses concerns that
are similar to those raised by APALC, and also notes that
ongoing problems with the state's voter registration database
could result in some registered voters not receiving their
ballots. Finally, Protection & Advocacy, Inc. expresses
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concern that all-mailed ballot elections may restrict the
ability of disabled voters to vote without assistance by
forcing disabled voters to travel farther to get to polling
places that have accessible voting machines.
1)Absentee and Permanent Absentee Voting : Under state law, any
voter can request an absentee ballot for any election, and any
voter can become a permanent absentee voter. Permanent
absentee voters automatically receive a ballot in the mail for
every election, without the need to re-apply for an absentee
ballot. As such, any voter who prefers to vote-by-mail has
the ability to do so under existing law.
Among the arguments that the author and supporters of this bill
have made in support of mail ballot elections is that such
elections are more convenient for voters. However, it is not
clear whether this is the case. Any voter who finds it more
convenient to vote by mail has the option to do so under
existing law, and voters who want to vote by mail at every
election can sign up for permanent absentee voter status.
Despite the fact that this option is available to every voter
in the state, a majority of voters has chosen to vote at the
polling place at every statewide election ever held in
California.
While existing law already makes a vote-by-mail option available
to voters who find that method of voting to be more
convenient, this bill would make it decidedly more difficult
for those who find voting at the polling place to be more
convenient to cast a ballot. While this bill does not
completely eliminate polling places on election day, it only
requires that an "appropriate" number of polling places be
available. It seems likely that any all-mailed ballot
election conducted under the provisions of this bill will
result in a substantial reduction in the number of polling
places that are open on election day, and in turn, will force
some voters to travel much greater distances in order to vote
at a polling place on election day. The committee should
consider whether all-mailed ballot elections are truly more
convenient for voters, particularly in light of the fact that
every voter currently has the option to vote by mail.
2)Oregon Experience : In November 1998, Oregon voters approved
Ballot Measure 60, which required all elections in the state
to be conducted entirely by mail. Since that time, all
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elections in Oregon have been conducted entirely by mail.
Although it has been nine years since Oregon moved to all-mail
ballot elections, there is little information about the effect
that mailed-ballot elections have on voter turnout. An early
study of mailed ballot elections in Oregon, conducted in 2000,
found that all-mail ballot elections resulted in a 10 percent
increase in turnout. However, that study was conducted using
data from only three statewide elections in Oregon, and more
recent studies have been unable to replicate that finding when
including data from subsequent elections. There is even less
empirical data on whether vote-by-mail elections change the
composition of the electorate.
3)Monterey Pilot Project : AB 319 (Salinas), Chapter 385,
Statutes of 2001, allowed Monterey County to conduct any
election within the county wholly by mail, provided that the
election did not contain a state or federal office. AB 319
specified that it was to serve as a pilot project for mailed
ballot elections, and required Monterey County to report to
the Legislature and the SOS regarding the success of the
election, including, but not limited to, any statistics on the
increase of voter fraud. The pilot project ended on December
31, 2005. AB 591 (Salinas) of 2005 sought to extend the pilot
project until December 31, 2008, but that bill failed after
never being heard in the Senate Elections Committee.
Unfortunately, the report filed by Monterey County as part of
the pilot project lacked much of the information that is
necessary to evaluate the impacts of the pilot project.
Although the report indicated that mailed ballot elections
increased turnout, decreased costs, and did not result in
voter fraud, the report lacked the detail necessary to
effectively evaluate these claims.
4)Report : Because all-mailed ballot elections have not been
used extensively in California, and because previous
vote-by-mail pilot projects have not produced useful
information in evaluating the effects of all-mailed ballot
elections, if it is the committee's desire to move this bill
forward, it may be appropriate to authorize elections to be
conducted entirely by mailed ballot only as a pilot project,
and to require a report to the Legislature on the impacts of
such mailed ballot elections. While this bill currently
requires any jurisdiction that conducts an election entirely
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by mailed ballot to report to the Legislature and the SOS, it
is not clear that the information required in that report will
be sufficient to evaluate the impacts of mailed-ballot
elections. In fact, the report currently required by this
bill is similar to the report that was required from Monterey
County regarding mailed ballot elections it conducted as part
of its mailed ballot election pilot project. As noted above,
the report received by the Legislature from Monterey County
lacked the information that is necessary to evaluate the
impacts of mailed ballot elections.
In order to ensure that the Legislature receives useful and
detailed information regarding mailed ballot elections
conducted under this bill, it may be appropriate to require
the SOS to complete the report, based upon information
received from the local jurisdictions that conducted mailed
ballot elections. By having one entity, the SOS, complete a
comprehensive report on the impact of mailed ballot elections,
there is a better chance that the report will contain a large
enough volume of information to draw meaningful conclusions on
the impact of mailed ballot elections. On the other hand,
because a report from any individual county is likely to be
based on only a few elections, it is unlikely that the county
reports will have sufficient information to draw broad
conclusions about the impacts of mailed ballot elections.
Additionally, due to the lack of information contained in
previous reports on mailed ballot elections, it may be
appropriate for this bill to contain greater detail as to the
type of information that should be contained in the report.
Specifically, it may be appropriate to require detailed
information about the effects of mailed ballot elections among
different demographic groups, surveys evaluating voter
satisfaction with mailed ballot elections, information about
an increase, if any, in the number of ballots that were not
counted because they were received after election day, and
detailed discussion of the impact that mailed ballot elections
have, if any, on the incidence of voter fraud.
In order to provide for this type of study, committee staff
recommends that this bill be amended as follows:
On page 4, strike out lines 3-6, inclusive, and insert:
(c) The Secretary of State shall report to the Legislature not
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later than December 31, 2010 on the impacts of conducting
elections entirely by mail, including recommendations on
whether the Legislature should continue to allow mailed ballot
elections and any changes that the Legislature should make to
mailed ballot election procedures. Every jurisdiction that
conducts a mailed ballot election shall cooperate with the
Secretary of State in its preparation of this report. The
Secretary of State may contract with any campus of the
University of California or of the California State University
to assist in preparing this report. The report shall include,
but not be limited to, all of the following:
i. Information about the turnout at each mailed ballot election
conducted pursuant to this chapter, and a comparison of how
that turnout compares to the turnout of recent similar
non-mailed ballot elections in the same jurisdiction. This
information shall include a discussion of any other factors
that may have had a substantial effect on voter turnout.
ii. An analysis of the impact that conducting these elections as
all-mailed ballot elections had on turnout of various
demographic groups, including an analysis the turnout by
income, race and ethnicity, partisan affiliation, age, and
geography.
iii. A random, independent survey of a representative sample of
voters who participated in an election that was conducted as
an all-mailed ballot election pursuant to this chapter, with
questions about voters' attitudes about the all-mailed ballot
election.
iv. An analysis of the number of ballots received at each mailed
ballot election that were not eligible to be counted because
the ballots were received after election day, and a comparison
of how that number compares to recent similar non-mailed
ballot elections in the same jurisdiction.
v. An analysis of the costs of conducting each mailed ballot
election conducted pursuant to this chapter, and a comparison
of how that cost compares to recent similar non-mailed ballot
elections in the same jurisdiction.
vi. An analysis of the impact of mailed ballot elections on
voter fraud, if any, including a discussion of the methods
used to determine whether mailed ballot elections had an
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impact on the incidence of voter fraud.
5)Return Postage : This bill requires the elections official, in
any jurisdiction that conducts an election entirely by mailed
ballot pursuant to this bill, to deliver to each registered
voter all supplies necessary for the use and return of the
ballot. It is not clear, however, whether this provision
would require the elections official to include the postage
necessary to return the ballot to the elections official.
Because this bill could force some voters who would otherwise
choose to vote in person at a polling place to vote by mail,
it may be appropriate to explicitly require that all ballots
sent to voters in a mailed ballot election contain a
postage-paid return envelope.
6)Polling Places : In an attempt to ensure that voters have a
way to cast their ballots on election day, this bill requires
any jurisdiction that conducts an all-mailed ballot election
to provide for an "appropriate number" of polling places at
convenient locations for voters to cast their votes in person.
It is not clear, however, how many polling places would
constitute an "appropriate number" of polling places.
Additionally, this bill requires that the polling places that
are open on election day must allow voters to "cast their
votes in person." It is not clear, however, whether these
polling places would be required to have ballots and voting
machines, including voting machines that allow blind and
disabled voters to cast a ballot without assistance, as
required by state and federal law. It is also not clear
whether these polling places - if they do have ballots - would
have all ballot types within the jurisdiction that is
conducting the mailed ballot election. If not, it may be
appropriate to require that each voter be notified of the
specific polling places in the jurisdiction that will have
that voter's correct ballot type. Additionally, if the
polling places have paper ballots, it is not clear how many
ballots they would be required to have. In order to prevent a
situation in which one of the polling places runs out of
ballots, it may be appropriate to specific the number of
ballots that each polling place is required to have.
7)Enough Time To Vote ? Under the provisions of this bill, the
elections official has until the third day before an election
to mail a ballot to a voter who registers between the 15th and
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the 29th day prior to the election. Because all elections in
California are held on Tuesdays, the third day before the
election would be the preceding Saturday. If the elections
official waits until the Saturday before an election to mail a
ballot to certain voters, those voters will not receive the
ballot until the day before the election, at the earliest. If
the ballots get delayed by the US Postal Service, it is
possible that some voters will not receive their ballots until
election day or even after election day. If it is the
committee's desire to move this bill forward, it may wish to
consider amending this bill to require absentee ballots to be
sent further in advance of the election than the third day
before the election.
8)Technical Issues : On page 4, line 19, the word "major" should
be deleted. On page 5, line 19, the word "pamphlet" should be
replaced with "portion of the sample ballot".
9)Previous Legislation : AB 867 (Liu) of 2005 would have
authorized Calaveras, Mendocino, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa
Cruz, Sierra, and Ventura Counties to conduct all elections as
all-mailed ballot elections until January 1, 2011. AB 867 was
held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 319 (Salinas), Chapter 385, Statutes of 2001, allowed
Monterey County to conduct any election within the county
wholly by mail, provided that the election did not contain a
state or federal office. The provisions of AB 319 sunset on
December 31, 2005.
10)Urgency Clause : This bill contains an urgency clause, and
will therefore go into immediate effect if approved by the
Legislature.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California State Association of Counties
City Clerks Association of California
California Teachers Association
City of Clayton
City of Monrovia
City of Norwalk
City of Oakley
City of West Hollywood
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
Fremont City Council
Lafayette City Council
Mark Peterson, Mayor, City of Concord
Michael Shimansky, Mayor, Town of Danville
National Association of Letter Carriers
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County
Clerk-Recorder, San Mateo County
Opposition
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
California Family Council
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
Protection & Advocacy, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094