BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1819
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  April 10, 2008

                  ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
                               Curren D. Price, Chair
                     AB 1819 (Price) - As Amended:  April 1, 2008
           
          SUBJECT  :  Elections: voter registration.

           SUMMARY  :  Allows a person to register to vote once he or she is  
          16 years old if he or she otherwise meets all eligibility  
          requirements.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Permits a person who is 16 years of age and otherwise meets  
            all eligibility requirements to vote to submit an affidavit of  
            voter registration.  Provides that a properly executed  
            registration by a person who is less than 18 years of age  
            shall be deemed effective as of the date the registrant will  
            be 18 years of age, provided that the information in the  
            affidavit of registration is still current at that time.   
            Requires the registrant to provide current information to the  
            elections official before the registration becomes effective  
            if the information in the affidavit is not current.

          2)Requires the local registrar of births and deaths to notify  
            the county elections official monthly of all deceased persons  
            16 years of age and over whose deaths were registered with him  
            or her or of whose deaths he or she was notified by the state  
            registrar of vital statistics.

          3)Makes corresponding changes.

          4)Contains a January 1, 2010 effective date.

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Permits a person to register to vote if he or she will be 18  
            years of age on or before the date of the next election.

          2)Requires the local registrar of births and deaths to notify  
            the county elections official monthly of all deceased persons  
            18 years of age and over whose deaths were registered with him  
            or her or of whose deaths he or she was notified by the state  
            registrar of vital statistics.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown.  State-mandated local program; contains  








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          reimbursement direction.

           COMMENTS :    

           1)Purpose of the Bill  :  According to the author:

               According to the Secretary of State (SOS), more than 7.2  
               million eligible voters in California are not registered to  
               vote - nearly one-third of California's eligible voters.   
               Among young voters, participation is even lower - according  
               to data from the U.S. Census, more than 45 percent of  
               eligible voters in California between 18 and 24 years of  
               age were not registered to vote in 2004 (the most recent  
               data available).  Furthermore, while participation by  
               younger voters has increased in the last few elections,  
               California's ranks just 36th in the nation for turnout  
               among young voters.

               Research shows that people who get involved in the  
               political process at a young age are much more likely to  
               become lifelong voters, so facilitating participation by  
               younger voters can have positive long term effects on  
               overall voter participation.

               The state has taken some important steps to encourage  
               participation by younger voters - for instance, the SOS  
               worked with Rock the Vote to create a "birthday card"  
               program where voter registration cards are mailed to more  
               than 30,000 Californians each month on their 18th birthday.  
                However, we can do a better job of encouraging  
               participation by young voters.

               AB 1819 seeks to improve participation among younger voters  
               by allowing a person to "pre-register" to vote when he or  
               she is 16 years old if that person otherwise meets all the  
               requirements to vote.  Once a "pre-registrant" turns 18,  
               his or her voter registration automatically becomes  
               effective.  To minimize the costs of AB 1819, this bill  
               does not go into effect until 2010, by which time the state  
               will be using a new voter registration database that will  
               have the capability for pre-registration built-in.

               AB 1819 does not change the voting age, but by allowing 16  
               and 17 year olds to register to vote when they go to the  
               DMV to get their first driver's licenses, or when they are  








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               taking civics and government classes in high school, it  
               will help those individuals take the first steps towards a  
               lifetime of participation in our democracy.
                         
           2)Pre-Registration in Other States and in California  :  At least  
            eight states currently permit some form of pre-registration by  
            individuals who have not yet reached voting age.  Hawaii  
            allows 16 year olds to pre-register to vote, while Florida  
            allows individuals who are as young as 16 years old to  
            register to vote if they have a driver's license (Floridians  
            who do not have a driver's license can register to vote once  
            they are 17).  Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Wisconsin, Oregon,  
            and Texas, all permit pre-registration by 17 year olds.

          In fact, California already has a form of pre-registration -  
            under California law, any person can register to vote if he or  
            she will be 18 years old by the time of the next election.  As  
            such, in counties that do not hold local elections in  
            odd-numbered years, it is theoretically possible that a  
            Californian could submit a voter registration and register to  
            vote when he or she was 16 years old.  For instance, an  
            individual who will turn 18 years old in May 2010 could  
            theoretically register to vote after this year's general  
            election if that individual lived in a county that does not  
            hold elections in odd-numbered years, even though he or she  
            would only be 16 years old at the time.

          This bill would allow any 16 year old to pre-register to vote  
            without regard to whether or not there are any intervening  
            elections between the time the person registers and the time  
            that the person will turn 18 years old.

           3)Statewide Voter Registration Database  :  As noted by the author  
            above, the SOS is in the process of procuring a new statewide  
            voter registration database.  In December 2007, the SOS issued  
            a request for proposal for development and implementation of  
            that new system, dubbed "VoteCal." The contract for developing  
            and implementing the VoteCal system tentatively is scheduled  
            to be awarded in October of this year, with the VoteCal system  
            expected to be put into operation sometime in 2009.

          One of the requirements of the VoteCal system is that an SOS  
            administrator be able to set a minimum voter registration age.  
             This requirement, coupled with the requirement that VoteCal  
            be able to generate the official list of eligible registered  








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            voters with respect to any given election based on the  
            requirements of state election law (such as the requirement  
            that a voter must be 18 years old by the day of the election)  
            means that the VoteCal system should be able to automatically  
            process "pre-registrations" as envisioned by this bill.

          In order to minimize the costs of implementing this bill, the  
            author has included a provision that will delay the  
            implementation of pre-registration until January 1, 2010, by  
            which time the VoteCal system is scheduled to be deployed.   
            However, if the VoteCal system gets delayed, and is not  
            deployed by January 1, 2010, this bill could require elections  
            officials to modify their election management systems to  
            permit pre-registration.

           4)Arguments in Support  :  According to the New America  
            Foundation:

               High schools play a crucial role in a young person's life.  
               California's diverse population is especially apparent in  
               high schools today. Because students in effect are a  
               "captive audience," high schools are an ideal place for  
               engaging young people and incorporating them into our  
               representative democracy. If young people are not hooked  
               into democratic institutions and practices while they are  
               in high school, it becomes more difficult to do so after  
               they leave high school.  And if they are not on the voter  
               rolls then it is nearly impossible for candidates or  
               political organizations to contact or engage them directly.  
               Their lack of participation results in a "disengagement  
               cycle" that becomes increasingly difficult to break. High  
               school in many cases is the final opportunity to fully  
               engage young people about participating in our democracy.

               One of the most effective ways to engage young people is to  
               lower the age for voter registration to sixteen. Within  
               each high school, implementation could be facilitated in  
               various ways.  Several means of registration could be  
               employed, including registering students in their high  
               school civics class, or as part of a student assembly or  
               "Civics Day" in which students are visited by local  
               political leaders. Students also could register to vote on  
               the Internet, a practice that already is available in  
               California. High schools might implement a "voter's ed"  
               curriculum for high schoolers (just as many have "driver's  








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               ed" now), providing a means to introduce more young people  
               to the importance of civic engagement. California could  
               emulate Wisconsin's law which establishes in each high  
               school a "registration deputy" who is a teacher or staff  
               person volunteering to oversee the voter registration  
               process.

               Over time, as all 16 to 18-year-olds are preregistered to  
               vote, California would move closer to 100 percent voter  
               registration. The teenage population is more ethnically  
               diverse than the overall state population, so targeting  
               young voters is an opportunity to increase participation  
               among under represented minority groups. Such a policy  
               would register millions of young people in an orderly way,  
               and generate more understanding of the value of our  
               representative democracy.

           5)Concerns Raised  :  While not taking a position on this bill,  
            the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials  
            (CACEO) expresses a concern that "none of the information  
            management systems currently utilized are designed to allow  
            for a separate file of underage or otherwise ineligible  
            voters."  CACEO notes that "there would be a level of  
            maintenance required for these underage registrations,  
            including updating new addresses or political party  
            information" and that "[i]n order to maintain this data it  
            would be necessary to upgrade the current information  
            management systems used throughout the State."

          CACEO communicated this concern to the committee prior to the  
            adoption of the most recent amendments which delayed the  
            implementation of the bill until 2010, at which point the  
            VoteCal statewide voter registration system is scheduled to be  
            in use.  As such, the most recent amendments to this bill may  
            mitigate CACEO's concerns to some extent.  
           
           6)Related Legislation  :  AB 2371 (Coto), also being heard in this  
            committee today, automatically registers a person to vote when  
            he or she applies for a driver's license or state  
            identification card or files a tax return unless that person  
            opts-out.

          ACA 15 (Mullin), which is awaiting referral to committee by the  
            Assembly Rules Committee, allows a person who is at least 17  
            years of age and will be at least 18 years of age at the time  








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            of the next general election to register to vote and vote in  
            that general election and in any intervening primary or  
            special election that occurs after the person registers.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Common Cause
          FairVote
          Greenlining Institute
          New America Foundation
          Secretary of State Debra Bowen

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094