BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 88 HEARING DATE:3/15/11
AUTHOR: YEE ANALYSIS BY:Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 3/9/11
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: names of candidates
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires translation of ballots and ballot
materials into languages other than English when specified.
Existing law also provides that if a candidate changes his
or her name within one year of any election, the new name
shall not appear upon the ballot unless the change was made
by either of the following:
§ Marriage.
§ Decree of any court of competent jurisdiction.
This bill would require that phonetic translations of the
English names of candidates be provided whenever the ballot
materials are required to be translated, and would apply
only to character-based languages, including Mandarin
Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean.
This bill would permit a jurisdiction that provides
translations of candidates' names on the ballot to
establish a local appeals process to challenge the
translation of a candidate's name on the ballot for a
candidate running for office exclusively within that
jurisdiction and who is not running for the following
offices:
a) Member of the Assembly, Senate, United States House of
Representatives, or State Board of Equalization;
b) Justice of the Court of Appeal; or,
c) Judge of the superior court.
This bill would provide that in a jurisdiction in which
separate ballots containing translations of the candidates'
names are printed in different languages, ballot materials
shall include both the alphabet-based names and the
translations of the candidates' names. The bill further
provides that if a jurisdiction cannot comply with this
requirement due to limitations on its existing voting
system, any new voting system purchased by that
jurisdiction after June 1, 2012, shall be able to print
both the alphabet-based and translated names.
This bill would allow a candidate that has a
character-based name by birth, which can be verified by a
birth certificate or other valid identification, to use
that name on the ballot instead of a phonetic translation.
This bill allows a candidate who does not have a
character-based name by birth, but who identifies by a
particular character-based name and can demonstrate that he
or she has been known and identified within the public by
that name over the past two years, to use that name instead
of a phonetic translation.
BACKGROUND
Currently, candidates for public office are allowed to
submit any name of their choosing as the "translation" of
their name on ballots without proof that the name being
submitted is a true translation of their "legal" name.
In 2002 the San Francisco director of elections implemented
a change to their Chinese name policy for ballot
translations and the ordinance currently provides that:
(1) "Translation" shall mean the selection of Chinese
characters to represent the parts of a Chinese name, or a
name in any other language that traditionally is written
using Chinese characters.
(2) "Transliteration" shall mean the selection of Chinese
characters to represent the phonetic equivalent of the
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syllables of an English name, or a name in any other
language that is not traditionally written using Chinese
characters.
The Director of Elections shall cause a translation or
transliteration of the names of all candidates to be
prepared by a qualified Chinese-language interpreter
according to generally-accepted professional standards. A
candidate may submit documentary evidence demonstrating
established use of a particular translation or
transliteration of his or her name to assist the
interpreter, but the Director of Elections' decision to
accept the translation or transliteration of a candidate's
name submitted by the Department's interpreter shall be
final. Translated or transliterated names accepted by the
Director shall be available for public review for ten days,
and the Director's decision may be challenged pursuant to
California Elections Code Section 13313. (Added by Ord.
233-99, File No. 991282, App. 8/20/99)
COMMENTS
1.According to the author : The lack of state law governing
this topic has opened the door to abuse. In one
instance, a candidate for Supervisor in California hired
a political consulting firm to pick an Asian-character
name for him. This name was allowed on the ballot even
though it had no relationship to his English name and he
had no history of being identified by it. In another
instance, a candidate submitted the "translation" of his
name as a common Asian name that the candidate had just
picked for the race, with the intent to win votes from
that community through this false identity and not
through his actual name or accomplishments. Allowing
this voter fraud to continue or worse, to expand, is an
affront to civil rights and democracy.
On the flip side, this bill will also protect people who
legitimately identify by an Asian name. In a California
Assembly race, a candidate was initially rejected for the
use of a name that he had used and been identified by
within the Chinese community for a number of years. SB
88 will establish standards to protect people like this
candidate who legitimately have an Asian name that they
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would like to be identified by on the ballot.
SB 88 will establish statewide guidelines for counties and
the Secretary of State's office to follow to ensure the
integrity of the translated names on our ballots in
California. It will prevent the hodgepodge rules and
regulations that are currently in place in different
regions that place access to our democratic system at
risk for Asian-language communities.
2.Just saying . For a candidate who does not have a
non-English name by birth, but who identifies by a
particular non-English name, it is unclear what would
constitute adequate demonstration to the elections
officials that the candidate has been known and
identified within the public sphere with that particular
non-English name over the past two years.
3.Previous legislation . SB 288 (Yee) of 2009, which was
identical to this bill was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger. In his veto message, the Governor
stated, in part:
"Under current law, local elections officials have the
authority to address this fraudulent behavior and to set
policies that are appropriate for their unique
jurisdictions. For example, the director of elections in
San Francisco has established a Chinese name translation
policy to address concerns that improper translations
were being used by candidates in local races. I
encourage local elections officials to continue to
address the concerns raised in this bill at the local
level."
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees,
(AFSCME) AFL-CIO
California Communities United Institute
Oppose: California Association of Clerks and Election
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Officials
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