BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 381|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 381
Author: Calderon (D), et al
Amended: 7/15/08
Vote: 21
ALL PRIOR SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SEN. ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 3-2, 8/21/08
AYES: Migden, Oropeza, Calderon
NOES: Battin, Cogdill
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-18, 8/14/08 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Voter registration
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill allows for voter registration over the
Internet for persons with a valid California Driver's
license or state identification card.
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of the bill
clarifying the law concerning behested payment reports by
office holders for legislative, governmental, and
charitable purposes.
ANALYSIS : Existing law prohibits any person from being
registered as a voter except by affidavit of registration
and requires that the affidavit be mailed or delivered to
the county elections official. The Secretary of State
CONTINUED
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(SOS) has certain administrative duties under existing law
in providing voter registration materials. The federal
National Voter Registration Act of 1993 provides for state
Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to make voter
registration information and materials available to an
applicant for a driver's license and other vehicular
documents. Under existing state law, the DMV requires
licensed persons to provide a signature and the DMV is
required to digitize that signature and forward the
digitized signature to the Secretary of State if a person
wishes to register to vote.
This bill:
1. Allows any person who is qualified to register to vote
and who has a valid California driver's license or state
identification card to submit an affidavit or voter
registration electronically on the Internet web site of
the SOS. Requires this online voter registration system
to become operative when the SOS certifies that the
state has a statewide voter registration database that
complies with the requirements of the federal Help
American Vote Act of 2002.
2. Provides that an affidavit of voter registration
executed electronically through the Internet web site of
the SOS is effective upon receipt of the affidavit by
the SOS if the affidavit is received on or before the
15th day prior to an election to be held in the precinct
of the person submitting the affidavit.
3. Requires the person who is registering to vote on the
SOS's web site to provide his/her driver's license or
identification card number, date of birth, the last four
digits of his/her social security number, and any other
information that the SOS deems necessary to establish
the identity of the affiant.
4. Requires the SOS, immediately upon the submission of an
affidavit of registration on the SOS's Internet Web
site, to confirm with the DMV that the driver's license
or state identification card number and date of birth
supplied by the applicant match the information on file
for that applicant with the DMV and to obtain an
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electronic copy of the applicant's signature from
his/her driver's license or state identification card.
5. Requires the SOS to employ security measures to ensure
the accuracy and integrity of voter registration
affidavits submitted electronically through the SOS's
Web site.
6. Requires the DMV to utilize the electronic voter
registration system required by this bill to comply with
its duties and responsibilities as a voter registration
agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act
of 1993.
Background
According to the author's office currently, all voter
registration in California ultimately utilizes a paper
affidavit. Voters can partially complete a registration
form online but a hard copy must still be printed out or
mailed to them so that they can provide a signature. Once
the signature is affixed, the paper form must then be
forwarded to the appropriate county elections official or
the Secretary of State. This current system is slow and
costly.
This bill will permit most eligible persons to register to
vote over the Internet using digitized signatures on file
with DMV. Accessing the DMV signatures makes it possible
to complete the entire voter registration process over the
internet.
Californians already enjoy the convenience of conducting
all kinds of e-government business, from filing tax returns
to enrolling in college. The ability to register to vote
or to update an existing registration online is long
overdue. This bill will finally make it happen.
Arizona & Washington Internet Voter Registration : Since
2002, Arizona has permitted most eligible persons to
register to vote over the Internet utilizing digitized
signatures on file with the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division.
Only persons who have an Arizona driver's license,
identification card, or driver's license permit may utilize
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the online voter registration system. Utilizing the motor
vehicle signatures makes it possible to complete the entire
voter registration process over the Internet, thereby
making it both convenient and virtually instantaneous. In
2007, Arizona reported that 72 percent of all voter
registrations were completed online.
Last year, the state of Washington also approved
legislation to implement on online voter registration
system. The Washington legislation was modeled after the
Arizona system. Washington began offering online voter
registration in January of this year. Since the
implementation of online voter registration, Washington has
reported that between 30 and 40 percent of all voter
registrations have been completed online.
Existing Internet Registration Tool . The SOS's web site
currently has a page that allows voters to begin the step
of registering to vote online, but because of the
requirement to have a signature for each registered voter,
existing law and practice does not presently permit a
person to complete the voter registration process online.
A voter who attempts to register to vote on the SOS's web
site is asked to fill in all the information necessary in
order to register to vote. Once that person submits that
information on the SOS's web site, a voter registration
card is generated with the person's information pre-filled,
and that voter registration card is mailed to the voter who
must sign the card and mail it back in for the registration
to be processed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Secretary of State . One-time information technology (IT)
costs of $250,000 to implement the new registration system
and ongoing costs of $70,000 for one IT position to
maintain the new system. The SOS anticipates ongoing
savings of about $200,000 associated with termination of
its existing online system (see Comment #1). Additional
savings of about $200,000, from reduced processing of paper
registration forms, would be realized after the first year
of implementation.
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Department of Motor Vehicles . The department would incur
one-time IT costs of about $150,000 to provide interface
with the SOS online registration system regarding digitized
signatures. These costs will be more than offset by
replacing the current manual paper registration process at
the DMV, which the department indicates has annual costs of
about $370,000 for personnel ($300,000) and postage
($70,000).
Net Savings to Counties . Similar to the SOS and DMV,
counties would incur one-time non-reimbursable
reprogramming costs to provide interface with the SOS
online system. However, these costs should be more than
offset by savings from processing fewer paper registration
forms. According to information from the author's office,
Maricopa County, Arizona (which includes Phoenix) has saved
the equivalent of eight staff positions since that state
implemented online registration.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/14/08)
American Association of Retired Persons
American Legion, Department of California
California Association of county Veterans Services Officers
California Common Cause
California National Guard Association
California State Student Association
City of Los Angeles
Department of Defense, Federal Voting Assistance Program
League of Women Voters of California
Secretary of State Deborah Bowen
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/14/08)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to California Common
Cause, two other states have already implemented online
voter registration systems, Arizona in 2002 and Washington
State in 2008. Since implementation, Arizona has seen a
dramatic increase in the number of people registering to
vote, as well as significant cost savings. Allowing people
to register to vote online provides a simple, convenient,
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and secure registration process which in 2007, over 70
percent of people registering to vote used. In 2006 in the
largest county in Arizona, cost savings were equivalent to
the salaries of eight full time employees since data entry
needs are reduced. Washington has also already seen a
large number of potential voters registering online.
With Californians already using the Internet to conduct a
range of activities online, including filing tax returns
and applying to college, this bill is a logical next step
by adapting the voter registration process to today's
technological advances. This bill will improve the voter
registration process for both applicants and elections
officials. Online voter registration will allow for
improved access to voter registration and help to encourage
more people to register to vote. It will allow for easier
matching of duplicate records, and other issues that arise
when a voter moves from one county to another, and remove
the need for large amounts of manual data entry.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance is
opposed to this bill as it is premature and has a potential
for significant General Fund impact.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Arambula, Beall, Berg, Brownley,
Caballero, Carter, Coto, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeSaulnier, Dymally, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Garcia, Hancock, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Horton, Huffman, Jones, Karnette, Krekorian,
Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Ma, Mendoza, Mullin,
Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Nunez, Parra, Portantino, Price,
Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torrico,
Tran, Wolk, Bass
NOES: Anderson, Benoit, Blakeslee, DeVore, Duvall, Fuller,
Gaines, Garrick, Huff, Jeffries, Keene, La Malfa, Maze,
Silva, Spitzer, Strickland, Villines, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Charles Calderon, Cook,
Davis, Houston, Plescia, Sharon Runner, Soto
DLW:do 8/23/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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