BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1724
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1724 (Fong)
As Amended March 29, 2012
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 5-1
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bonilla, Hall, | | |
| |Mendoza, Swanson | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Logue | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Resolves a conflict in existing law that governs the
amount of time that a voter can spend in the voting booth, and
permits a voter to receive additional time to mark his or her
ballot when necessary. Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals a provision of law that prohibits voters from
remaining in or occupying voting booths or compartments longer
than five minutes, except under certain circumstances. This
provision conflicts with another portion of existing law that
prohibits voters from remaining in or occupying voting booths
or compartments longer than 10 minutes.
2)Permits any voter who needs more than 10 minutes to complete
his or her ballot to inform a precinct board member of that
fact and to receive additional time to complete the ballot.
Repeals a provision of law that provides that a voter may only
be permitted additional time to mark his or her ballot when no
other voter would be inconvenienced.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits voting booths or compartments from being occupied by
more than one person at a time, unless the voter is eligible
to receive assistance in casting his or her ballot.
2)Prohibits voters from remaining in or occupying the booths or
compartments for longer than either five or 10 minutes unless
a longer time period will not inconvenience other voters.
AB 1724
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Existing law contains two
conflicting provisions that set a limit on the amount of time
that a voter can remain in a voting booth or compartment.
Section 14224 of the Elections Code provides that a voter may
not remain in the voting booth longer than necessary to mark his
or her ballot, but the total amount of time shall not exceed ten
minutes. Section 19363 of the Elections Code, however, provides
that a voter may not remain in the voting booth longer than
necessary to mark his or her ballot, but the total amount of
time shall not exceed five minutes. These conflicting standards
can cause confusion for voters and for poll workers.
Furthermore, since Section 19363 is in an area of the Elections
Code that governs the use of lever voting machines (machines
that are no longer used in this state), that section is obsolete
and should be repealed.
"Finally, the two existing code sections that establish a limit
on how long a person can spend in the voting booth both allow
voters to have additional time in the booth, but only if 'no
other voter would be inconvenienced.' While many voters are
able to complete their ballots in ten minutes, some voters need
additional time to make their selections, especially at
elections where there are a large number of offices and measures
on the ballot. Those voters should be given the opportunity and
time that they need to complete their ballots."
This bill is substantially similar to AB 686 (Ruskin) of 2009,
which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. In his veto
message, the Governor argued that there was "no evidence that
the discrepancy in current law has resulted in a significant
problem for voters."
In addition, this bill is substantially similar to AB 3014
(Mullin) of 2008, which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger,
though the Governor did not express any policy objections to
that bill. AB 3014 was one of the 136 bills that received the
same veto message. That veto message is as follows, "The
historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has forced
me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the
year's legislative session. Given the delay, I am only signing
bills that are the highest priority for California. This bill
AB 1724
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does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time."
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0003443