BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 985
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 985 (Williams) - As Introduced: February 18, 2011
SUBJECT : Elections: official canvass: manual tally.
SUMMARY : Permits elections officials to conduct a two-part
public manual tally of ballots as part of the official canvass
of an election in which a voting system is used, in lieu of
conducting a public manual tally of the ballots cast in one
percent of the precincts. Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits elections officials, in lieu of conducting a public
manual tally of the ballots cast in one percent of the
precincts, including vote by mail (VBM) ballots, to conduct a
two-part public manual tally that includes both of the
following:
a) A public manual tally of the ballots, not including VBM
ballots, cast in one percent of the precincts chosen at
random by the elections official; and,
b) A public manual tally of not less than one percent of
the VBM ballots cast in the election.
2)Requires, for the purposes of conducting the public manual
tally of VBM ballots as part of this alternate process, that
the elections official choose batches of VBM ballots at
random. Defines a "batch," for the purposes of this bill, as
a set of ballots tabulated by the voting system devices for
which the voting system can produce a report of the votes
cast.
3)Requires an elections official who conducts the manual tally
using the alternate procedure authorized by this bill, in
addition to tallying not less than one percent of VBM ballots,
to count at least one additional batch of VBM ballots for each
race not included in the initial manual tally of VBM ballots.
Provides that this additional manual tally shall apply only to
the race not previously counted. Permits the elections
official to select additional batches to be manually tallied
at his or her discretion.
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4)Makes corresponding and clarifying changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the elections official, during the official canvass
of an election in which a voting system is used, to conduct a
public manual tally of ballots cast in one percent of the
precincts, including any VBM ballots cast in those precincts.
Provides that if one percent of the precincts is less than one
whole precinct, the tally shall be conducted in one precinct
chosen at random by the elections official.
2)Requires the elections official, in addition to the one
percent manual tally described above, to manually tally at
least one additional precinct for each race that was not
included in the initial group of precincts that were a part of
the one percent manual tally. Provides that this additional
manual tally shall apply only to the race not previously
counted.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill :
AB 985 provides county elections officials' cost-cutting
flexibility when conducting the 1% post-election manual
tally currently required by law. This bill affords all
counties the option of conducting two separate 1% manual
tallies. One manual tally for precinct ballots and the
other for vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots for each election.
Existing law requires elections officials to conduct a
manual tally of 1% of randomly selected precincts for each
contest on the ballot. AB 1235 (Bowen) Chapter 893,
Statutes of 2006, required election officials to include
vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots in the mandatory 1% tally. As a
result, VBM ballots must be sorted into their respective
precincts before the tally begins. Depending on the voting
system used by the county, this is a very time consuming
process, especially given the increase in VBM voting.
In 2010, there were only two weeks between the Statewide
Direct Primary Election on June 8 and the Senate District
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15 Special Election on June 22, which involved five
counties. AB 46 (Monning), Chapter 28, Statues of 2010,
gave four of those counties - San Luis Obispo, Santa
Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz - the option to conduct
the proposed separate 1% manual tallies for each contest
for the June 8, 2010, June 22, 2010 and August 17, 2010,
elections. One manual tally for precinct ballots and
another, separate, tally for all VBM ballots.
Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, which utilized
the alternative option, found they were able to conduct the
1% manual tally in a more efficient and expeditious manner.
Santa Barbara saved over 70% in costs and time spent on
conducting the manual tally and San Luis Obispo saved over
90% in costs and time.
AB 985 provides all counties the option of conducting two
separate 1% manual tallies, creating a more efficient
system and saving counties both time and money while
maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the election.
2)One Percent Manual Tally : To help ensure that ballots are
counted accurately, state law requires the elections official
who conducts an election where a voting system is used to
conduct a public manual tally of ballots cast in one percent
of precincts in that election. The results of this manual
tally are compared against the tally of ballots in those
precincts that was generated by the voting system. Before the
election results can be certified, the elections official must
reconcile any discrepancies between the machine count and the
manual tally, and must report on how those discrepancies were
resolved.
3)Prior Legislation : Among other provisions, SB 1235 (Bowen),
Chapter 893, Statutes of 2006, requires county elections
officials to include VBM ballots in the manual tally of votes
cast in one percent of the precincts. Prior to the adoption
of SB 1235, some counties did not believe that VBM ballots
were required to be included in the required manual tally of
ballots cast in one percent of precincts, and so were not
including those ballots.
Because VBM ballots typically are returned by mail, the VBM
ballots cast from a particular precinct are likely to be
spread out among all other VBM ballots, instead of being
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batched together with the polling place ballots from that
precinct. As a result, elections officials must sort the VBM
ballots by precinct before they can begin the manual tally of
ballots under existing law. This sorting process can take a
considerable amount of time, particularly if the elections
official does not have equipment that can sort the ballots
automatically.
Last year, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed AB
46 (Monning), Chapter 28, Statutes of 2010. AB 46 allowed
four California counties to conduct separate manual tallies of
polling place ballots and VBM ballots for elections held on
three specified dates. That bill was enacted to help ease the
burden on elections officials in those counties after Governor
Schwarzenegger scheduled a special primary election in the
15th Senate District to be held just two weeks after the
statewide primary election in June last year. The alternate
manual tally procedure authorized by AB 46 was similar to the
alternative manual tally procedure that this bill would
authorize elections officials to use at any election. Those
counties reported that the two-part manual tally significantly
reduced the costs and time of conducting the manual tally.
4)Arguments in Support : In support of this bill, Julie
Rodewald, the elected County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of
Voters for San Luis Obispo County writes:
San Luis Obispo County utilizes a voting system which
segregates and reports vote-by-mail ballots by precinct,
even though the ballots are not physically separated prior
to counting. By counting the ballots in batches of 200,
the results from a batch can be isolated and used to verify
that the machines counted the ballots correctly. . . . In
2006, Elections Code §15360 was amended to require that all
vote-by-mail ballots be included in the 1% manual tally by
precinct. This requirement resulted in over 540 additional
staff hours to complete the manual tally process and
approximately $12,000 in additional costs for each
election. . . .
The simple procedural change outlined in AB 985 will allow
San Luis Obispo and other counties with similar vote
counting software to complete the manual tally in a very
cost effective manner, saving at least 540 hours and
$12,000 in staff costs for each election. More
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importantly, this change will not affect the purpose of the
manual tally, which is to verify that the voting machines
have accurately counted and tallied the results of the
ballots cast.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Secretary of State Debra Bowen (sponsor)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
Colleen Setzer, County Clerk, County of Siskiyou
Joseph Holland, Registrar of Voters, Santa Barbara County
Julie Rodewald, County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters,
San Luis Obispo County
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094