BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 257 HEARING DATE: 7/7/09
AUTHOR: ADAMS ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 5/6/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: reporting irregularities
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that the Secretary of State (SOS) is
the chief elections officer of the state.
Existing law does not require county elections officials to
report election related irregularities to the SOS.
This bill requires the SOS to establish a uniform reporting
format to collect information from county elections
officials relating to election incidents and irregularities
that occur during a regularly scheduled statewide election.
This bill provides that, for the purposes of this bill,
"election incidents and irregularities" includes documented
complaints or reports of any of the following:
Voter fraud;
Voter intimidation;
The failure, malfunction, or improper usage or
operation of either an electronic voting machine or a
paper ballot, whether cast by mail or at a polling
place; or,
Incidents resulting in voter disenfranchisement.
This bill requires the SOS to make any reports that are
submitted by county elections officials publicly available
on his or her Internet Web site.
BACKGROUND
During the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election,
several counties throughout the state experienced problems
conducting the election. For example, in Los Angles
County, there were problems with the design of the ballot
(double-bubble) that resulted in 25% of nonpartisan or
Decline To State (DTS) voters ballots not being counted
(Dean Logan in an excerpt from a 2/18/08 LA Times
interview). In Riverside County, there were issues with
voters receiving unusable ballots which had to be replaced
by local election officials. There were also far more
reports of ballot shortages than normal. These reports
included several counties from throughout the state. The
shortages appeared to mainly be the result of a
higher-than-anticipated number of DTS voters exercising
their option to request and vote a Democratic Party ballot.
Current law permits qualified political parties to allow
DTS voters to participate in their primary elections. For
the February 5 Election, the Democrats and the American
Independents were the only parties that opted to permit DTS
voters to participate in their primaries.
Beyond the ballot shortages, there were an unusually high
number of anecdotal reports regarding poll worker confusion
over the options available to DTS voters. These ranged
from poll workers telling DTS voters they were not eligible
to vote at all during the primary, to confusion over which
parties, if any, were permitting them to participate.
Although the SOS is the chief elections official in the
state, and is responsible for seeing that elections are
efficiently conducted and that state election laws are
enforced, there is no current requirement in law that local
elections officials report problems and irregularities that
arise in connection with elections held in the state. As a
result, it can be difficult for the SOS and the Legislature
to assess the severity and pervasiveness of problems that
are reported by voters and the media.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : It is the role of the
California State Legislature and of the Secretary of
State to ensure that statewide elections are conducted
AB 257 (ADAMS) Page
2
in the most secure and efficient manner possible.
Problems arise when the institutions that are
responsible for conducting elections do not have the
information needed to fulfill their responsibilities.
Currently, local election officials that conduct the
elections are not required to report Election Day
irregularities and inconsistencies to the agencies that
are charged with the oversight of statewide elections.
This bill will ensure that the Legislature and the SOS has
the information needed to adequately oversee the
conduction of statewide election[s] and ensure that all
statewide elections are conducted in the most secure and
efficient manner possible.
2. Previous Legislation : AB 2628 (Adams) of 2008 was a
similar bill that would have required elections
officials to report election day incidents and
irregularities to the SOS not later than 30 days
following the official canvass for each statewide
election. That bill was held on the Senate
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 15-0
Assembly Floor: 76-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Common Cause
Oppose: None received
AB 257 (ADAMS) Page
3