BILL ANALYSIS
SB 172
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Date of Hearing: July 7, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
SB 172 (Florez) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 21-15
SUBJECT : Voter registration.
SUMMARY : Extends the period of time, from two federal general
elections to four presidential elections, between the date that
a voter's name is placed on the list of inactive voters and the
date that voter's registration is cancelled for failure to
appear to vote or offer to vote after any election.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Permits a county to conduct an alternative residency
confirmation procedure for any voter who has not voted in the
preceding four years. Provides that if a county chooses to
conduct this procedure, it shall send a forwardable postcard
to every voter who has not voted in the preceding four years
with a request that the voter confirm his or her residence
address.
2) Provides that a voter's name may be placed on the inactive
file for the following reasons:
a) When a residential confirmation mailing sent to a
voter is returned by the post office as undeliverable and
provides no forwarding address for the voter, or the
voter's forwarding address is outside the county.
b) When the voter fails to confirm his or her address as
part of the alternate residency confirmation process.
3) Provides that a voter whose name is placed in the inactive
file may have his or her registration cancelled if he or she
fails to offer to vote or vote at any election between the
date of the residential confirmation mailing and two federal
general elections.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
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COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
SB 172 is a modest proposal to further protect the
fundamental right to vote.
Current law allows a county registrar discretion to cancel
a voter on the inactive list if they have not voted in the
previous [two] federal, general elections.
This bill merely changes that timeline to four presidential
elections.
The previous presidential election saw record turnout
across the country, including the state of California.
During ballot count procedures, the author's staff
witnessed a number of ballots not be counted, that were
otherwise perfectly valid, due to the fact that the voter
had not voted in a while and had been canceled by the
registrar.
This specific activity was witnessed by the author's staff
in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Kern counties.
The fact of the matter is that most county registrar's do
not delete a canceled voter's information from their
database. They merely flag it as "canceled." Therefore,
the author [contends] any additional burden on the county
from SB 172 is minimal.
Nevertheless, the author believes any additional burden is
justified given that the right to vote is fundamental to
our democracy. It should not be denied for convenience.
2) Argument in Support : The Secretary of State writes in
support:
Current law provides that if a voter has not voted in any
election within the preceding four years, and their voter
registration information has not been changed during that
time, the county elections official will send an Alternate
Residency Confirmation (ARC) card to the voter. To remain
SB 172
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on the active voter list, the voter must respond within 15
days by returning the prepaid return postcard. If the
voter does not respond and does not attempt to vote at any
election in the period between the date of the notice (ARC
card) and the second federal general election after the
notice is sent, their voter registration will be canceled
and the voter will have to reregister in order to vote.
As amended, SB 172 simply extends the period of time for a
voter to remain on the inactive file from two to four
presidential elections. Increasing this time period will
ensure voters are enfranchised and have the ability to
participate in future elections.
3) Argument in Opposition : Orange County Board of Supervisors
writes:
Extending the amount of time an inactive voter must remain
in the voter database to 16 years is damaging to the
quality of data contained in the voter rolls. The
department works to maintain an up-to-date and accurate
voter database, which is partially achieved by purging the
inactive voter rolls every two years. Allowing a voter to
remain on the inactive file for 16 years will result in a
substantially larger inactive file with a greater
probability that the data contained therein will not be
accurate. By allowing a voter to remain inactive for 16
years with little consequence, a voter is less likely to
update their information with the office when they move,
change names, change parties, or make other critical
changes to their voter registration.
Additionally, all polling places are required to have a
list of inactive voters should an inactive voter choose to
vote at their polling place on Election Day. This list
would undoubtedly be extremely large and cumbersome, and
could result in longer wait times at the polls while poll
workers struggle to search for a name amongst thousands.
4) Technical Amendment : This bill has a drafting error.
Committee staff recommends the following amendment to correct
that technical error:
On page 6, line 33 strike out "federal general" and insert
"presidential".
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5) Previous Legislation : AB 452 (Arambula), Chapter 317,
Statutes of 2007 requires the voter notification card, which
is required to be sent to all persons when they register or
re-register to vote, 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 annual alternate residency confirmation process
for voters who had not voted in the previous four years. AB
1862 was set but not heard in this committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Opposition
Orange County Board of Supervisors
Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094