BILL ANALYSIS AB 2369 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 14, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 2369 (Block) - As Introduced: February 19, 2010 Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0 (Consent) Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill repeals the 2011 sunset on provisions allowing absentee voters temporarily living outside the United States to return their ballots to elections officials by facsimile transmission. FISCAL EFFECT Negligible fiscal impact. It is not likely that counties would submit a reimbursement claim for any minor additional costs associated with counting faxed overseas ballots. COMMENTS Background and Purpose . AB 2941 (Bates)/Chapter 821 of 2004, permitted special absentee voters temporarily living outside the U.S. to return their ballots by facsimile transmission. AB 2941. AB 2786 (Salas)/Chapter 252 of 2008 extended the sunset date for this procedure to January 1, 2011. The original legislation required the Secretary of State (SOS) to report by December 31, 2008 on the benefits and problems of allowing voters to return ballots by fax and on the number of ballots returned by fax. The SOS reported that, for the November 2008 General Election, 11,997 ballots were returned by fax and, of those, 875 were rejected and were not counted. The most common reasons for rejection were the failure on the part of the voter to forward or sign the voter oath and poor facsimile quality. Ten counties experienced a substantial increase in the number of AB 2369 Page 2 special absentee voters and two of those counties reported that additional processing time was necessary for duplicating ballots due the quality of the facsimile transmissions. Only one county (Santa Clara) indicated the process actually delayed counting the ballots because every faxed ballot required duplication. No counties recommended discontinuing this practice, and many military members were reportedly grateful that this method of voting was available and expressed their appreciation to county election officials, who are in support of this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081