BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 216|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 216
Author: Swanson (D)
Amended: 8/15/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/22/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Blakeslee, Hancock, Huff, Liu,
Price, Simitian, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 3-2, 7/ 6/12
AYES: Correa, Lieu, Yee
NOES: La Malfa, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Voters: residency confirmation
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill permits a county elections official,
in lieu of mailing a residency confirmation postcard, to
contract with a consumer credit reporting agency or its
licensees to obtain change-of-address data. If the county
elections official contract with a consumer credit
reporting agency or its licensees, this bill requires the
county elections official, based on the change-of-address
information received, to send a specified forwardable
notice to the registered voter to enable the voter to
verify or correct the address information. If the voter
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responds to the forwardable notice, or otherwise verifies
in writing his/her new residence address, this bill
requires the county elections official, as appropriate, to
correct or cancel the voter's registration. This bill
deletes the provision of law that authorizes a county
elections official to cancel the voter registration of a
voter who does not offer to vote or vote within a specified
time period, and deletes the requirement that a voter be
given an opportunity to vote at a statewide primary or
general election between the date of notice and the
beginning of the alternate residency procedure.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/15/12 correct two minor
drafting errors by striking out their inadvertent inclusion
in Elections Code Sections 2225 and 2226 of the bill.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the county elections
official to conduct a preelection residence confirmation
procedure by mailing a specified nonforwardable postcard to
each registered voter of the county by the 90th day
immediately prior to the direct primary election. In lieu
of mailing a residency confirmation postcard, existing law
permits the county elections official to conduct the
residency confirmation procedure by alternative methods,
including by contracting with the United States Postal
Service (USPS) or its licensees to obtain use of postal
service change-of-address data. Existing law requires the
county elections official, based on the change-of-address
information received in conducting the residency
confirmation, or the change-of-address information provided
directly by the voter, to correct or cancel, among other
things, the voter's registration.
Existing law authorizes a county elections official, if a
voter has not voted in any election within the preceding
four years, and the residence, address, name, or party
affiliation of the voter has not been updated during that
time, to send an alternate residency confirmation postcard
that describes the alternate residency procedure. If a
county uses the alternate residency confirmation procedure,
the county is required to notify all voters of the
procedure in the sample ballot pamphlet or in a separate
mailing. A voter in that county is also given the
opportunity to vote at a statewide primary or general
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election between the date of the notice and the beginning
of the alternate residency procedure. Existing law further
authorizes a county elections official to cancel the voter
registration of a voter who does not offer to vote or vote
at any election between the date of the confirmation
mailing and two federal general elections after the date of
that mailing.
This bill permits a county elections official, in lieu of
mailing a residency confirmation postcard, to contract with
a consumer credit reporting agency or its licensees to
obtain change-of-address data. If the county elections
official contracts with a consumer credit reporting agency
or its licensees, all of the following shall occur:
For each registered voter in the county, the county
elections official shall initiate a search for
change-of-address data with the consumer credit
reporting agency or its licensees by providing the name
and residence address of each registered voter in the
county to the consumer credit reporting agency or its
licensees.
The consumer credit reporting agency or its licensees
shall search their databases for each name and address
provided by the county elections official and shall
report to the county elections official any information
indicating that the registered voter changed his or her
residence address.
This bill requires the county elections official that
contracts with a consumer credit reporting agency or its
licensees, based on the change-of-address information
received, to send a specified forwardable notice, including
postage-paid and preaddressed return form, which may be in
the form of a postcard, to the registered voter to enable
the voter to verify or correct address information. The
forwardable notice shall be in substantially the following
form:
"We have received notification that you have moved to
a new residence address in ____ County. You will
remain registered to vote at your old address unless
you notify our office that the address to which this
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card was mailed is a change of your permanent
residence. Please notify our office in writing by
returning the attached postage-paid postcard. If this
is not a permanent residence, and you do not wish to
change your address for voting purposes, please
disregard this notice."
This bill further requires, that if the voter responds to
the forwardable notice, or otherwise verifies in a signed
writing his/her new residence address, or to another
residence address in another county, the county elections
official shall verify the signature on the response by
comparing it to the signature on file for the voter and, if
appropriate, correct or cancel the voter's registration.
This bill deletes the provision that authorizes a county
elections official to cancel the voter registration of a
voter who does not offer to vote or vote within a specified
time period, and would also delete the requirement that a
voter be given an opportunity to vote at a statewide
primary or general election between the date of notice and
the beginning of the alternate residency procedure.
This bill requires that the elections official not place
the voter's name on the inactive file of registered voters
or cancel the voter registration of a voter that does not
respond to the forwardable notice as specified, and does
not otherwise verify in a signed writing that he/she has
moved to a new residence address.
This bill makes other conforming changes.
Background
The National Change of Address Process (NCOA), and How Do
Counties Use It . The NCOA process includes a check of a
county's entire voter database for change of address
records maintained by the USPS within the country. Address
changes, if any, are made in the county voter database to
reflect a new address, and the affected voter is sent a
residency confirmation postcard by the elections official
to confirm that the change is correct. Once the signed
postcard confirming the new address is received, and the
signature verified by the elections official, the voter
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will continue to receive election materials within that
same county. On the flipside, any voter either not
returning a residency confirmation postcard or whose
postcard is returned as "undeliverable" or having no
forwarding address, would be moved to the inactive voter
file.
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) . The
NVRA prohibits states from cancelling a voter's
registration or removing a voter from the rolls, except in
certain instances, such as death, criminal conviction,
mental incapacity, or at the request of the voter. The
NVRA permits states to use voter residency confirmation
programs using USPS NCOA data that can lead to cancelling a
voter registration, only if all of the following occur:
The official receives NCOA data indicating the voter has
moved;
The official sends the voter a forwardable postcard
asking for an address update;
The voter does not respond to the postcard; and
The voter does not vote in the next two federal
elections.
Comments
According to the author's office, allowing counties to use
credit bureau data in lieu of USPS change-of-address data
will reduce waste and save California counties millions of
dollars in the future, because credit bureau
change-of-address data is simply more up-to-the-minute and
comprehensive than USPS data.
Major credit bureaus are widely considered the most
credible and reliable sources for up-to-date address data
for people living in the United States. This is because
people are far more likely to update their address with
their financial institutions than they are with the USPS.
This bill gives county elections officials the option of
using credit bureau data in lieu of USPS data to get
updated address information on voters before each election.
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Under this bill, county elections officials who choose
this option would be required to:
Release only the names and addresses of each registered
voter to a consumer credit reporting agency, as defined
in Civil Code section 1785.2(d).
Send a forwardable postcard, similar to the current
postcard generated based on NCOA data, to all voters who
appear to have moved based on matching data received from
the credit reporting agency.
Update voter addresses and remove voters who have moved
out of county, only after the voter responds to the
postcard by sending a signed, written confirmation that
the voter has moved and wish to change their address or
be removed from the voter rolls.
The bill prohibits credit bureaus from retaining name and
address data received and permits elections officials to
receive only change-of-address data back from the credit
bureau. No sensitive data, such as social security number
or credit history, is shared in either direction.
Orange County Report . According to their report, Orange
County has tested and proven the dramatic cost savings of
using credit bureau data. In addition to complying with
current law, the county contracted with Experian to check
the addresses of 250,000 registered voters and received
122,000 possible new addresses. The county sent postcards
to each of the 122,000 and 18,800 voters responded in
writing confirming their move and asking the county to
update their address information. This saved Orange County
over $44,000 in the first election alone - savings that
will grow with each passing election as the county avoids
repeatedly mailing materials to 18,800 out-of-date
addresses. Orange County's full report on this pilot can
be viewed at www.OCvote.com.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Database . Orange
County also reported that in 2010, over 56,000 voter
records were updated due to changes reported by the DMV.
The report noted that, "DMV changes are very accurate and
effective in maintaining the voter database," as voters are
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likely to update their address with the DMV in order to
keep their vehicle registrations or driver's license
current. Changes through the DMV are made and shared with
the counties via the SOS on a daily basis.
Technical Clean Up . As mentioned in the background, the
NVRA permits elections officials to confirm voter addresses
through USPS NCOA data and cancel a voter's registration if
all of the appropriate steps are followed. The NVRA
specifically prohibits states from canceling a voter's
registration based on a voter's failure to vote.
Unfortunately, California law is inconsistent with federal
law. Election Code Section 2224 permits counties to begin
a postcard mailing process if a voter fails to vote for
four years in a row, which can result in voter
cancellations in violation of the NVRA.
This bill makes technical changes to Section 2224 and
section 2226 to ensure that voters will only be placed on
the inactive file (not cancelled) if they don't respond to
a postcard sent because they didn't vote for four years.
This ensures California law is consistent with the NVRA.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/12)
Secretary of State (source)
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
California State Counties Association
DLW:d 8/16/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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