BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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


          BILL NO:   AB 1724             HEARING DATE:  7/03/12
          AUTHOR:    FONG                ANALYSIS BY:   DARREN CHESIN
          AMENDED:   5/10/12
          FISCAL:    NO
          
                                     SUBJECT

           Voting: polling place procedures
           
                                  DESCRIPTION  
          
           Existing law  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. 

           This bill  resolves the 5 versus ten minute conflict in 
          existing law that governs the amount of time that a voter 
          can spend in the voting booth in favor of the ten minute 
          limit but permits a voter to receive additional time to 
          mark his or her ballot when necessary.  Specifically, this 
          bill:  

             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.

             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.  

             Provides that if a precinct board member determines 
             that a voter is attempting to interfere with the conduct 
             of the election and does not require additional time to 
             mark his or her ballot, that precinct board member may 
             contact the elections official, who may order that the 









             voter not be provided with additional time to mark his 
             or her ballot.

             Makes other conforming changes.

                                    BACKGROUND  
          
           Take Five -- or Ten  ?  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.  
          Elections Code Section 14224 sets a 10 minute limit on the 
          amount of time that a voter can remain in a voting booth or 
          compartment to cast his or her ballot, while Elections Code 
          Section 19363 sets a five minute limit.  Elections Code 
          Section 19363 is located in a part of the code dealing with 
          lever voting machines - machines that are no longer used in 
          this state.

                                     COMMENTS  
          
           1.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), that section is obsolete and should be repealed.

          Furthermore, 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 
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            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.

          AB 1724 resolves the conflict in existing law regarding the 
            amount of time that a voter can spend in the voting booth 
            by repealing Section 19363 of the Elections Code.  As a 
            result, voters will have ten minutes to mark their 
            ballots.  

          In order to protect the voting rights of voters who require 
            additional time to mark their ballots, AB 1724 permits a 
            voter to remain for longer than ten minutes if the voter 
            informs a precinct board member that he or she requires 
            additional time to mark the ballot.

          Finally, in order to ensure that the flexibility provided 
            by this bill is not abused, AB 1724 allows an elections 
            official to refuse to provide a voter with additional 
            time to vote if that voter does not need additional time 
            to mark his or her ballot but instead is attempting to 
            interfere with the conduct of the election.

           2.Previous Legislation  .  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 read 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 does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at 
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            this time."

                                   PRIOR ACTION
           
          Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee:  5-1
          Assembly Floor:                         72-3
                                         
                                   POSITIONS  

          Sponsor: Author

           Support: American Federation of State, County and 
                   Municipal Employees Secretary of State
                    
           Oppose:  None received



























          AB 1724 (FONG)                                          
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