BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1343| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1343 Author: Fong (D) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 3-2, 6/8/11 AYES: Correa, De León, Lieu NOES: La Malfa, Gaines ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 50-26, 4/25/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Vote by mail: procedures SOURCE : California Association of Letter Carriers DIGEST : This bill requires a voter's name to be deleted from the permanent vote by mail voter list if he/she fails to return a vote-by-mail ballot for four consecutive statewide general elections, instead of two consecutive statewide general elections. ANALYSIS : Existing law allows any voter to become a permanent vote-by-mail (PVBM) voter, and requires a voter's name to be deleted from the PVBM voter list if he/she fails to return an executed vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot for two consecutive statewide general elections. Comments Permanent Vote by Mail Voting : AB 1520 (Shelley) Chapter CONTINUED AB 1343 Page 2 922, Statutes of 2001, allows 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. Previous Legislation SB 39 (Murray), Chapter 113, Statutes of 2005, requires a voter's name to be deleted from the PVBM voter list if he/she failed to return a VBM ballot for two consecutive statewide general elections, instead of failing to return a VBM ballot in any single statewide general election. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/8/11) California State Association of Letter Carriers (source) California Labor Federation ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, 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. 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 CONTINUED AB 1343 Page 3 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/her name was deleted from the PVBM voter list. This bill 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. The sponsor of this bill, the California State Association of Letter Carriers writes, "Ýw]e believe that every opportunity should be extended to allow qualified permanent vote by mail voters to continue to remain on the permanent vote by mail list. Since its introduction, permanent vote by mail in California has resulted in increased participation among voters, been easier for election officials to conduct, and has given voters a much longer opportunity to study the ballot and find answers to their questions prior to casting their votes." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Fletcher, Garrick, Gatto, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, CONTINUED AB 1343 Page 4 Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Silva, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner NO VOTE RECORDED: Furutani, Gorell, Olsen, Vacancy DLW:do 6/8/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED