BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1436|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1436
Author: Feuer (D), et al.
Amended: 8/6/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 3-2, 6/19/12
AYES: Correa, Lieu, Yee
NOES: La Malfa, Gaines
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-1, 7/3/12
AYES: Hancock, Calderon, Liu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/16/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 47-26, 5/31/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Voter registration
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes a person to conditionally
register to vote after the 15th day prior to an election,
and to cast a provisional ballot. This provision will
become effective January 1 following the year that the
Secretary of State (SOS) has certified a statewide voter
registration database.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes procedures regarding
the registration of voters. Under existing law, a person
may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of
registration, and a voter may not vote in an election
unless his/her affidavit of registration is executed and
received by the county elections official on or before the
15th day prior to the election. Existing law permits any
registered voter to vote by a vote by mail ballot, and
further permits any voter using a vote by mail ballot to
vote the ballot at the office of the elections official
beginning 29 days before the election. Existing law
requires that the affidavit of registration show facts
necessary to establish the affiant as an elector, as
specified, and provides that if the affiant has not been
issued a current and valid driver's license or social
security number, he/she shall be provided a unique
identification number for voter registration purposes.
This bill:
1. Defines "conditional voter registration" as a properly
executed affidavit of registration which is delivered by
the registrant to the county elections official during
the 14 days immediately preceding an election or on
election day and which may be deemed effective after the
elections official processes the affidavit, determines
the registrant's eligibility to register, and validates
the registrant's information.
2. Permits an elector who is otherwise qualified to
register to vote, in addition to existing methods of
voter registration, to complete a conditional voter
registration and cast a provisional ballot during the 14
days immediately preceding an election or on election
day.
3. Provides that a conditional voter registration is
effective only if the county elections official is able
to determine before or during the canvass period for the
election that the registrant is eligible to register to
vote and that the information provided by the registrant
on the registration matches information contained in a
database maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles
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or the federal Social Security Administration.
4. Provides that if the information provided by the
registrant on the registration affidavit cannot be
verified by the databases described above, but the
registrant is otherwise eligible to vote, the registrant
shall be issued a unique identification number in
accordance with existing law.
5. Provides that conditional voter registration shall be
available at all permanent offices of the county
elections official.
6. Requires an elections official to notify registrants
that a conditional voter registration will be effective
only if the registrant is determined to be eligible to
register to vote for the election as specified by this
bill.
7. Requires an elections official to conduct the receipt
and handling of each conditional voter registration and
offer and receive a corresponding provisional ballot in
a manner that protects the secrecy of the ballot and
allows the elections official to process the
registration, determine the registrant's eligibility to
register, and validate the registrant's information
before counting or rejecting the corresponding
provisional ballot.
8. Requires an elections official, after receiving a
conditional voter registration, to process the
registration, determine the registrant's eligibility to
register and attempt to validate the information.
9. Requires an elections official, if a conditional
registration is deemed effective, to include the
corresponding provisional ballot in the official
canvass.
10.Requires an elections official, if it appears that a
registrant may have committed fraud, to notify in
writing both the district attorney and the SOS.
11.Increases the fine that may be imposed for a felony
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conviction of an election crime, for which no other
penalty is prescribed by law, from $10,000 to $25,000.
12.Specifies a person who commits fraud in the execution of
a conditional voter registration pursuant to this
article shall be punishable by imprisonment in the
county jail for up to one year, or a fine up to $25,000,
or by both that fine and imprisonment. In addition to
the criminal penalties as prescribed, a person who
commits fraud in the execution of a conditional voter
registration pursuant to this article shall be subject
to a civil fine of an amount up to $25,000. An action
for a civil penalty under this subdivision may be
brought by the SOS or any public prosecutor with
jurisdiction. Nothing in this part is to preclude the
prosecution of a person under any other applicable
provision of law.
13.Requires the provisions of this bill to become operative
on January 1 of the year following the year in which
VoteCal, the statewide voter registration database, is
implemented.
Comments
Election day voter registration in other states . In all,
10 states and the District of Columbia have some form of
election day voter registration. Idaho, Iowa, Maine,
Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Wyoming and
Washington DC generally permit election day voter
registration at most or all elections, while Connecticut
and Rhode Island permit election day voter registration for
Presidential elections only. Six of these states (Idaho,
Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) and
Washington DC allow election day voter registration at the
polling place, while the other four states (Connecticut,
Maine, Montana, and Rhode Island) do not provide election
day registration at all polling places, and may require
voters to go to another specified location (often the
office of the local elections official) to register to vote
on election day.
In June of last year, Maine's Governor signed a bill to
eliminate election day voter registration in that state.
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Groups that opposed the bill successfully collected enough
signatures to place a referendum on last November's
election ballot to overturn the law. The referendum
ultimately was successful, and election day registration
was restored in Maine.
North Carolina permits "one-stop voting," whereby a person
can register to vote and immediately cast a ballot at
certain designated locations after the regular voter
registration deadline. However, North Carolina technically
does not have election day registration, because "one-stop
voting" ends three days before the election.
North Dakota has no voter registration requirement at all.
Under existing law, at all elections, a voter claiming to
be properly registered but whose qualifications to vote
cannot be immediately established upon review of the
precinct voter index or records on file with the county
elections official, is entitled to vote a provisional
ballot. Existing law requires the elections official to
compare the signature on the ballot with the signature on
the voter's affidavit of registration. If the signatures
do not match or the provisional ballot is not signed, the
ballot is rejected. This bill, which allows a person to
register and vote a provisional ballot on election day,
adds a new time-consuming step to an already busy time
period for the county elections officials. While this may
not delay the canvass for many smaller counties that
usually have no difficulty completing the official canvass
of ballots by the deadline, larger counties, such as Los
Angeles, that frequently take the full amount of time
available to certify elections results, will likely be
significantly impacted.
The Office of SOS has been in the process of implementing a
new statewide voter registration database for several
years, as required by the Federal Help America Vote Act
(HAVA) of 2002. After difficulties with the prior vendor
and the termination of that contract, the SOS is currently
in the process of reviewing pre-qualification packages from
new bidders, and is expected to award a contract by the end
of this year. The expected completion date for the new
database is 2015.
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Related legislation . This bill is similar to SB 641
(Calderon, 2011) and SB 1140 (Yee, 2010) which were held on
the Suspense File in the Assembly Appropriations Committee;
and to AB 1531 (Portantino, 2010) which was held on the
Senate Appropriations Committee's Suspense File. Those
bills, however, were not contingent upon the certification
of VoteCal.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
Senate Appropriations Committee indicates unknown,
potentially in excess of $1 million reimbursable local
mandate costs (General). Actual costs to implement a
conditional voter registration program are unknown,
however, if every county incurred expenses of only $20,000,
the total costs would be $1,160,000 at each election which
would be reimbursed from the General Fund as a local
mandate. While this bill provides that implementation will
be contingent upon the SOS certifying that the state has a
statewide voter registration database that complies with
the requirements of the federal HAVA, counties will still
incur costs associated with additional labor, overtime,
computers, ballots, and security.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/17/12)
AARP
ACLU of California
AFSCME
American Association of University Women
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian Law Caucus
Backbone Campaign
California Church Impact
California Civil Rights Coalition
California Common Cause
California Communities United Institute
California Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
California League of United Latin American Citizens
California National Organization for Women
California Participation Project
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California Partnership
California Public Interest Research Group
California State Conference of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
Causa Justa:: Just Cause
Center for Voting and Democracy DC
City of Los Angeles
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice - Los Angeles
County of Santa Clara
Courage Campaign
CREDO
Democracy for America
Democrats of North Orange County
DEMOS
Empower San Diego
Energy Action Coalition
Equal Justice Society
Equal Rights Advocates
Fair Elections Legal Network
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Grass Roots Over Washington, PlanetPOV
Greenlining Institute
Inland Valley Democratic Club
Korean Resource Center
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law
League of Women Voters of California
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed
Officials
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Council of Jewish Women
National Lawyers Guild of San Francisco
PowerPAC
Progressive States Action
Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club
Rock the Vote
SEIU
SW Voter Registration Education Project
The Advancement Project
United Domestic Workers of America
University of California Student Association
Voto Latino
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/17/12)
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "AB 1436
addresses California's low voter participation rate through
the creation of a conditional voter registration process,
which would provide same-day registration and voting.
Beginning 14 days prior to an election and including
Election Day, a county elections office headquarters would
offer conditional voter registration. This should lead to
greater voter participation rates, which will provide
election results that more fully reflect the will of the
people. Aside from benefitting first-time voters, this
bill will also benefit those who have outdated
registration. California counties vary greatly in
geographic expanse and population. This can have the
effect of limiting access to a county elections office
headquarters. To increase the accessibility of same-day
registration and voting, AB 1436 authorizes counties to
offer same-day registration and voting at other sites in
addition to the central headquarters."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 47-26, 5/31/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Davis, Dickinson, Eng,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gordon, Hall,
Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mitchell, Monning, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Beth Gaines, Garrick, Gatto, Gorell, Grove, Hagman,
Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue,
Miller, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Olsen, Silva, Smyth,
Wagner, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Charles Calderon, Chesbro, Fletcher,
Mansoor, Mendoza, Norby, Valadao
DLW:k 8/20/12 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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