BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: SB 172 HEARING DATE: 4/21/09
AUTHOR: FLOREZ ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 4/13/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Voter registration
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that a voter's registration is
permanent for all purposes during his or her life, unless
and until the affidavit of registration is canceled by a
county elections official for a specified cause.
Existing law allows the county elections official to send
an alternate residency confirmation postcard that describes
the alternate residency procedure to a voter if that voter
has not voted in any election within the preceding four
years, and his or her residence address, name, or party
affiliation had not been updated during that time.
The alternate residency procedure is initiated by mailing a
nonforwardable postcard to the voter preceding the direct
primary election. Postcards mailed pursuant to this
article must be sent "Address Correction Requested, Return
Postage Guaranteed," and must be in substantially the
following format:
"We are requesting your assistance in correcting the
addresses of voters who have moved and have not
reregistered.
1. If you still live at the address noted on this
postcard, your voter registration will remain in
effect and you may disregard this notice.
2. If the person named on this postcard is not at
this address, please return this postcard to your
mail carrier."
In lieu of mailing a residency conformation postcard,
county elections officials may also contract with the U.S.
Postal Service to obtain use of postal service
change-of-address data, such as the National Change of
Address System (NCOA) and Operation Mail.
Existing law authorizes a county elections official to
cancel the voter registration of a voter whose name has
been placed on the inactive file of registered voters for
failure to act on any of the following:
Respond to a confirmation mailing;
Respond to an address verification mailing, or
Not offering to vote or not voting in any election
between the date of the mailing and two federal
general elections after the date of that mailing.
Any voter, whose registration was canceled for failure to
comply with these requirements, would have to reregister
with elections officials.
This bill would specify that a voter's registration may be
cancelled by a county election's official if a voter's name
has been placed on the inactive file of registered voters
for failure to respond to a confirmation mailing, an
address verification mailing or who does not offer to vote
or vote at any election between the date of the mailing and
four presidential elections after the date of that mailing.
This bill also makes minor clarifying and conforming
changes.
BACKGROUND
The Voter Inactive File : Generally, when a voter is placed
on the inactive voter file, their data does not get deleted
from the county's database, but rather is flagged as
canceled. Any voter whose name has been placed on the
inactive file of registered voters and offers to vote at
any election between the date of the verification notice,
and two federal general elections after the date of notice,
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or who notifies the elections official of a continued
residency, shall be removed from the inactive file and
placed on the active voter file. Allowing the voter's name
to remain on the inactive voter file for an additional
length of time should not result in any additional costs,
add to county workers existing duties, nor clog the active
voter file with deadwood since this is a completely
separate file that is already maintained by the individual
counties.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : During the past election
cycle there were over 17 million registered voters in
the state of California. There were many voters who
returned to the polls after years of not casting a vote.
Many of these returning voters were appalled to learn
that they had been removed from the voter registration
files and told their vote would not count because they
were 'cancelled' voters in the system.
2. Prior or related legislation : AB 452 (Arambula),
Chapter 317, Statutes of 2007 required the voter
notification card, which is required to be sent to all
registered or re-registered voters, to include a
notification that the card may have been sent due to a
change in party affiliation. AB 1862 (Benoit) of 2008
would have required every county to conduct an alternate
residency confirmation process annually for voters who
have not voted in the previous four years and
specifically would have provided that if a voter did not
respond to certain residency confirmation mailings, and
the voter did not vote in the next federal election that
is at least one year after the date of the mailing, the
voter would be placed on the inactive roster of voters
within six months of the federal election. AB 1862 was
set but never heard in the Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Secretary of State
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Oppose: Orange County Board of Supervisors
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