BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2797| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ CONSENT Bill No: AB 2797 Author: Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee Amended: 5/10/10 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE ELEC., REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 4-0, 6/29/10 AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/13/10 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Elections: voter registration and ballots SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill makes various changes in the existing law governing elections as follows: (a) moves back the deadline for a county to submit claims for reimbursement for costs incurred by the county in complying with various voter registration laws from October 31 to February 15 in the year following the fiscal year in which the costs were incurred; (b) repeals an obsolete provision of law that establishes a revolving fund for the purchase of ballot paper; (c) provides that in cases where a precinct board would be required to post the results of ballots cast at the precinct, the precinct board shall not do so if fewer than 10 voters cast ballots in the precinct in order to protect the secrecy of those voters' ballots. Provides instead that the precinct board shall post only the total CONTINUED AB 2797 Page 2 number of people who voted at the precinct; and (d) provides that in cases where a precinct board would be required to post the results of ballots cast on a voting machine at the precinct, the precinct board shall not do so with respect to any machine on which fewer than 10 voters cast ballots, in order to protect the secrecy of those voters' ballots. Provides instead that the precinct board shall post only the total number of people who voted on that machine. ANALYSIS : Ballot Paper Revolving Fund : Existing law establishes a continuously-appropriated revolving fund in the state treasury for the purchase of ballot paper and punchcards. However, according to the office of the Secretary of State, that provision of law is obsolete, and the revolving fund is not used for the purchase of ballot paper. This bill repeals the provisions of existing law that establish the revolving fund, and makes a corresponding change. Posting of Election Results : Existing law requires the results of votes cast on voting machines at a polling place to be posted outside the polling place after the polls close on Election Day. However, because of changes in technology and restrictions on the use of certain types of voting machines, most counties have only one voting machine per polling place, which is used to comply with state and federal laws that require that voters with disabilities be given the opportunity to cast a vote without assistance. As a result, it is often the case that few ballots are cast on a voting machine at a polling place, so posting the results of votes cast on those machines could compromise the secrecy of the ballot of those voters who used that machine. This proposal provides that in cases where fewer than 10 voters cast ballots on machines on which the results are tallied at the precinct and posting the results may violate a person's right to cast a secret ballot, the precinct board shall post only the total number of people who voted at the precinct on machines that keep vote tallies. AB 2797 Page 3 Additionally, this bill provides that if a precinct board tallies votes manually at the polling place and fewer than 10 voters cast ballots at that polling place, the precinct board shall post only the total number of people who voted at the precinct instead of posting the results of ballots cast at that precinct. These provisions were requested to be included in an omnibus bill by the Secretary of State's office. Previous Legislation SB 541 (Pavley) of 2009 proposed to repeal the provisions of the Elections Code that establish the ballot paper revolving fund, similar to a provision in this bill. SB 541 was vetoed by the Governor for unrelated reasons. SB 1404 (Pavley) from this year is a reintroduction of SB 541, and similarly proposes to repeal the provisions of the Elections Code that establish the ballot paper revolving fund. SB 1404is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/30/10) Secretary of State State Controller John Chiang ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, AB 2797 Page 4 Yamada, John A. Perez NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, Norby, Skinner, Vacancy DLW:do 7/2/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****