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 3