BILL ANALYSIS AB 2797 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2797 (Elections and Redistricting Committee) As Amended August 19, 2010 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(May 13, 2010) |SENATE: |35-0 |(August 24, | | | | | | |2010) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: E. & R. SUMMARY : Makes various minor and technical changes to existing law governing elections. Specifically, this bill : 1)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. 2)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 number of people who voted at the precinct. 3)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. The Senate amendments delete a portion of the bill that would have repealed an obsolete provision of law that establishes a revolving fund for the purchase of ballot paper in order to avoid chaptering conflicts with SB 1404 (Pavley). AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar to the version approved by the Senate. AB 2797 Page 2 FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS : This is one of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee's annual omnibus bills, containing various minor and technical changes to provisions of state law governing elections. Under existing law, counties are reimbursed by the state for net costs incurred by them in complying with various state voter registration laws and for conducting certain voter outreach programs. State law requires counties to submit claims for those costs to the Controller by October 31 in the year following the fiscal year in which the costs were incurred. According to the State Controller's office, however, all other claims are due on February 15, so in practice, they have allowed counties to file claims for these costs until February 15. This bill conforms state law to existing practice by extending the deadline for counties to file claims for voter registration and outreach costs from October 31 to February 15 in the year following the fiscal year in which the costs were incurred. This provision was requested to be included in an omnibus bill by the State Controller's office. 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 bill 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. 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 AB 2797 Page 3 cast at that precinct. These provisions were requested to be included in an omnibus bill by the Secretary of State's office. Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0006530