BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1805 (Huffman) - Military or Overseas Voters
Amended: July 6, 2012 Policy Vote: E&CA 3-2
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 16, 2012
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 1805 makes several changes relating to the
voting procedures for military or overseas voters in compliance
with the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE)
Act, and consistent with the Uniform Military and Overseas
Voters Act (UMOVA) adopted by the National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
Fiscal Impact:
The Secretary of State indicates minor, absorbable.
(General)
Potentially minor reimbursable costs to counties would
result from processing an increased number of military and
overseas voters due to the expanded definition. (General)
Background: On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into
law the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act to
expand the 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting
Act (UOCAVA), which was established to protect the rights of
service members to vote in federal elections regardless of where
they are stationed.
To comply with the MOVE Act in 2010, the Secretary of State and
local elections officials only had to make minimal adjustments
to their practices since California had already enacted most of
the provisions similar to those contained in the MOVE Act.
Proposed Law: Specifically, AB 1805 does the following:
1) Replaces the term "special absentee voter" with "military or
overseas voter."
2) Expands the definition of what constitutes a military or
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overseas voter to include an individual who was born outside of
the U. S. and his or her parent or legal guardian was a resident
of California when last living within the territorial limits of
the U. S.
3) Requires an elections official that receives a completed
federal postcard application from a qualified member of the
military to deem that application as an affidavit of
registration, an application for a vote by mail ballot and for
permanent vote by mail status.
4) Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to do all of the
following:
a) Make available to any person who qualifies as a military
of overseas voter information regarding those specific voting
procedures.
b) Enforce all aspects of the Military and Overseas Voters
Application and Voting Procedures.
c) Develop standardized military or overseas voter voting
materials.
d) Prescribe a form and content of a declaration for use by
a military or overseas voter to affirm the voter's identity,
eligibility to vote, and status as a military or overseas
voter.
5) Requires the county election officials to have a system that
allows a military or overseas voter to electronically request
and receive a vote by mail application, ballot and other
information.
6) Requires the election official to send a vote by mail ballot
to a military or overseas voter not earlier than 60 days, but
not later than 45 days before the election.
7) Allows a military or overseas vote to use a federal write-in
ballot to vote in any election in which the military or overseas
voter is qualified to vote.
8) Requires the county elections officials to develop a free
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access system which allows a military or overseas voter to
determine by telephone, electronic mail or Internet, whether his
or her ballot was received.
9) Revises the content of the application for a vote by mail
ballot to include a space to request the applicant's email
address.
10) Requires each election official to publish on his or her
Internet Web site a list of all of the ballot measures and
federal, state, and local offices that are expected to be on the
ballot; along with instructions on how a voter is to indicate
his or her choices on a federal write-in absentee ballot.
11) Provides that a military or overseas voter's mistake or
omission in the completion of a document shall not invalidate
the document if the error does not prevent determining whether
the voter is eligible to vote.
Staff Comments: Current federal law requires that elections
officials provide military and overseas voters with the
appropriate mechanisms for casting ballots in federal elections.
AB 1805 expands the voting rights of military and overseas
voters to include state and local elections.
Proposed Author's Amendments: Amendments clarify the procedures
for county clerks to use for processing applications and
distributing ballots.