BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2054 HEARING DATE: 7/06/12
AUTHOR: FONG ANALYSIS BY: DARREN CHESIN
AMENDED: 3/28/12
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: vote by mail ballots
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires that all vote by mail (VBM) ballots
must be cast on or before 8 p.m. on the day of the
election. After marking the ballot, the VBM voter must do
either of the following:
Return the ballot by mail or in person to the elections
official from whom it came; or,
Return the ballot in person to any member of a precinct
board at any polling place within the jurisdiction of the
elections official who issued the ballot.
Existing law requires an elections official to establish
procedures to ensure the secrecy of any ballot returned to
a precinct polling place and the security, confidentiality,
and integrity of any personal information collected,
stored, or otherwise used.
This bill permits a VBM voter to return his or her ballot
to any polling place within the state, instead of being
limited to polling places within the jurisdiction of the
elections official who issued the ballot. Specifically,
this bill:
Permits a properly cast VBM ballot to be returned in
person to any member of a precinct board at any polling
place within the state, instead of being limited to
polling places within the jurisdiction of the elections
official who issued the ballot.
Provides that if a VBM ballot is returned to a precinct
board of a polling place located in a county other than
the county from which the ballot was issued, the
elections official responsible for that polling place
shall forward the ballot to the elections official who
issued it.
BACKGROUND
VBM Ballots and the USPS Closures . Financial challenges
faced by the United States Postal Service (USPS) have
resulted in the approved closure of hundreds of processing
facilities throughout the United States. California has
been hit with 17 of those approved closures.
The timely processing of VBM ballots is critical in
California where more and more voters are choosing to
mail-in their ballots. In the November, 2008 presidential
election 41.6 percent of the voters (5.7 million
Californians) cast their ballots by mail. No doubt this
number will rise this year given the continuous increase of
voters choosing to vote-by-mail.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen has made appeals to the
Postmaster General to delay closures from May 15, 2012
until November 15, 2012. The United States Senate has
recently approved legislation requiring the USPS to delay
further closures until after the 2012 presidential
election.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , earlier this year, the
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee and the
Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments
Committee held a joint oversight hearing to discuss the
United States Postal Service closures and the impact on
voters and the upcoming presidential elections. During
the hearing, five county elections officials testified
to the impact that recent post office and processing
facility closures were having on their jurisdictions as
well as the anticipated challenges they saw ahead with
AB 2054 (FONG)
Page 2
more closures expected.
One of the major impacts affecting the counties is mail
delivery time delays. Some counties experienced mail
delivery time delays of up to 5-7 days as opposed to the
usual 1-3 day mail delivery time.
The Postal Service has 15 more processing facilities
proposed for closure in California. And while the
Postal Service has agreed to a moratorium on closing or
consolidating additional post offices or processing
facilities until May 15th, there is no timeline in place
for facility closures after the moratorium expires.
Existing law requires a voted vote by mail ballot to be
received by either the elections official who issued the
ballot or the precinct board within their county before
the closing of the polls on Election Day.
The new circumstances surrounding the elections will
present new challenges for voters, especially those who
vote by mail, particularly in light of the increase in
voting by mail. Voters who mail their ballots within a
reasonable timeframe could, through no fault of their
own, find themselves disenfranchised due to the mail
delivery time delays.
AB 2054 helps protect vote by mail voters by providing
them with the option to drop off their voted ballot to
any county elections official or polling place within
the state by the close of the polls on election day.
2. State Mandates . The 2011-2012 state budget included
the suspension of various state mandates as a mechanism
for cost savings. Included on the list of suspensions
were all six existing elections-related mandates. All
the existing elections-related mandates have been
proposed for suspension again by the Governor in his
budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. This bill would
create new election mandates.
3. Previous Legislation . SB 199 (Correa) of 2011, which
was substantially similar to this bill, was vetoed by
Governor Brown. In his veto message, the Governor
AB 2054 (FONG)
Page 3
argued that "allowing voters to return their
vote-by-mail ballot at any polling location in the state
will add complexity to the voting and election process
without commensurate benefit. California has liberal
registration and vote-by-mail laws that are sufficient
to allow the timely return of a vote-by-mail ballot."
However, the Governor vetoed this bill before there was
widespread attention and knowledge about the impacts of
the USPS closures.
AB 773 (Blakeslee) of 2007 was identical to this bill. AB
773 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. In his veto
message, the Governor argued that "while it may be
convenient for a small number of voters to return their
ballots in counties other than their county of
residence, the extra costs to counties and inherent
delays associated with this measure do not justify the
provisions of this bill."
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 4-2
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-4
Assembly Floor: 47-27
Senate Elections and Constitutional 2-2
Amendments Committee
(Failed passage, reconsideration granted)
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Secretary of State
Service Employees International Union of
California
Oppose: None received
AB 2054 (FONG)
Page 4