BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó





                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS 
                         AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
                           Senator Lou Correa, Chair


          BILL NO:   AB 1343            HEARING DATE:6/7/11
          AUTHOR:    FONG               ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon 
          Estoista
          AMENDED:   AS INTRODUCED
          FISCAL:    NO
          
                                     SUBJECT

           Vote by mail: procedures: permanent vote by mail voters: 
          failure to return ballot

                                   DESCRIPTION  
          
           Existing law  allows any voter to become a permanent vote by 
          mail (PVBM) voter.

           Existing law  requires a voter's name to be deleted from the 
          PVBM voter list if he or she fails to return an executed 
          VBM ballot for two consecutive statewide general elections.

           This bill requires a voter's name to be deleted from the 
          PVBM voter list if he or she fails to return a VBM ballot 
          for  four  consecutive statewide general elections, instead 
          of two consecutive statewide general elections.

                                    BACKGROUND  
          
          Since 2002, California law has allowed any voter to become 
          a PVBM voter, and to receive automatically a VBM ballot for 
          every election without applying for a VBM ballot at each 
          election.  Since that time, the number of PVBM voters in 
          the state has shot up from fewer than 300,000 in 2000, to 
          nearly 6.5 million by last November's general election.  
          Three out of every eight registered California voters are 
          now signed-up as PVBM voters.

                                     COMMENTS  
          
            1. According to the author  , as the number of PVBM voters 
             has increased, the percentage of votes cast by mail has 
             increased correspondingly.  At last year's general 









             election, nearly 60 percent of ballots were cast by 
             mail, compared to less than a quarter of ballots just 10 
             years ago.

           As more voters have signed up to be PVBM voters, however, 
             a larger number of occasional voters who prefer the 
             convenience of voting by mail have signed up to be PVBM 
             voters as well.  As a result, the percentage of VBM 
             ballots mailed to voters that are returned and counted 
             has declined.  At last year's primary election, only 51 
             percent of VBM ballots that were mailed to voters were 
             returned.

           A voter who chose to become a PVBM voter because he or she 
             prefers the convenience of voting by mail has a 
             reasonable expectation of receiving a ballot in the mail 
             for every election in which that voter is eligible to 
             vote.  However, existing law requires a voter to be 
             removed from the list of PVBM voters if he or she fails 
             to return a completed PVBM ballot in two consecutive 
             statewide general elections.  As a result, a voter who 
             missed two consecutive elections could be prevented from 
             voting if that voter didn't realize that his or her name 
             was deleted from the PVBM voter list.

           AB 1343 allows occasional voters to maintain their desired 
             status as PVBM voters by providing that a voter's name 
             will be deleted from the list of PVBM voters only if 
             that voter fails to vote in four consecutive statewide 
             elections.

            2. Permanent Vote by Mail Voting  :  AB 1520 (Shelley) 
             Chapter 922, Statutes of 2001, allowed any voter to 
             become a PVBM voter.  Since that time, according to 
             information from the Secretary of State, the number of 
             PVBM voters has increased more than twenty-fold, from 
             281,207 in November 2000, to 6,485,143 in November 2010.  
           
            3. Previous Legislation  :  SB 39 (Murray), Chapter 113, 
             Statutes of 2005, required a voter's name to be deleted 
             from the PVBM voter list if he or she failed to return a 
             VBM ballot for two consecutive statewide general 
             elections, instead of for failing to return a VBM ballot 
             in any single statewide general election.  
           
          AB 1343 (FONG)                                         Page 
          2  
           







                                   PRIOR ACTION
           
          Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee:  5-2
          Assembly Floor:                            50-26
                                         
                                   POSITIONS  

          Sponsor: California State Association of Letter Carriers

           Support: California Labor Federation

           Oppose:  None received
































          AB 1343 (FONG)                                         Page 
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