BILL ANALYSIS
AB 30
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 30 (Price)
As Introduced December 1, 2008
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 11-5
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|Ayes:|Fong, Coto, Mendoza, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Saldana, Swanson | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| | | |Hall, John A. Perez, |
| | | |Price, Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
|Nays:|Adams, Bill Berryhill |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, |
| | | |Audra Strickland |
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SUMMARY : Allows a person who is 16 years of age to
pre-register to vote, provided he or she would otherwise meet
all eligibility requirements. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes a person who is at least 16 years of age and who
otherwise meets all eligibility requirements to vote to submit
his or her affidavit of registration. Specifies that a
properly executed registration shall be deemed effective as of
the date that the affiant 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 county elections official before
the registration becomes effective if the information in the
current affidavit is incorrect.
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)Provides that the bill shall become operative only if the
Secretary of State (SOS) certifies that the state has a
statewide voter registration database that complies with the
AB 30
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requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of
2002 (42 U.S.C. Section 15301 et seq.).
4)Makes corresponding changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the SOS will incur additional General Fund (GF) costs
associated with printing and mailing additional voter
registration cards and voter notification cards. There are
currently about one million persons age 16 or 17 in the state.
Assuming 50,000 persons in this cohort pre-register each year,
the cost would be about $44,000. (This estimate assumes
pre-registration would occur predominantly through distribution
of registration cards through schools, thus requiring only
return postage.) The cost would be offset to some extent by
savings from those who would have otherwise registered at age
18.
Additionally, counties would incur GF reimbursable costs to
process additional voter registrations. Assuming 50,000
pre-registrations annually at a cost of $1.40 each (based on
workload data from Los Angeles and Alameda Counties), the
statewide cost would be $70,000. Again, these costs would be
partially offset by a reduction in registration of those who
would have otherwise registered upon reaching the legal voting
age.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The Secretary of State
[estimates that] 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 is ranked 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.
AB 30 seeks to improve voter participation among younger voters
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by allowing a person to pre-register to vote when he or she
becomes 16 years old, if they otherwise meet all other
eligibility requirements. Once a "pre-registrant" reaches 18
years of age, their registration would be activated and the
voter would receive a sample ballot and other election materials
for the first election in which they are eligible to vote. To
minimize the costs of AB 30, this bill will not be implemented
until the Secretary of State certifies a statewide voter
registration database that complies with the requirements of the
federal HAVA."
At least nine other states currently permit 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 at least 16 years of age to register if they
have a driver's license. Floridians who do not have a driver's
license can register to vote once they are 17 years old.
Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oregon and Texas
all permit pre-registration by 17 year olds.
This bill is substantially similar to AB 1819 (Price) of 2008.
AB 1819 was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee's
Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Qiana Charles / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094
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