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  
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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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