BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 397|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 397
Author: Yee (D), et al.
Amended: 5/31/11
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECT. & CONST. AMENDMENTS COMMITTEE : 3-2, 5/3/11
AYES: Correa, De León, Lieu
NOES: La Malfa, Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 5/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson
SUBJECT : Online voter registration
SOURCE : California Common Cause
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Motor
Vehicle (DMV) and the Secretary of State (SOS) to develop a
process and the infrastructure to allow the electronic copy
of the applicant who submitted an affidavit to the register
to vote electronically signature and other required
information need to register electronically that is in the
possession at the DMV to be transferred to the SOS and to
the county election management systems to allow a person
who is qualified to register to vote in California to
register electronically as specified.
ANALYSIS : Existing state law requires licensed persons
CONTINUED
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to provide to the DMV a signature and the DMV is required
to digitize that signature and forward the digitized
signature to the SOS if a person wishes to register to
vote. Existing law will permit a person who is qualified
to register to vote and who has a valid California driver's
license or state identification card to submit an affidavit
of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web
site of the SOS. This provision will become operative when
the SOS certifies that the state has a statewide voter
registration database (VoteCal) that complies with the
requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002
(HAVA).
This bill requires the DMV and the SOS to develop a process
and the infrastructure to allow the electronic copy of the
applicant who submitted an affidavit needed to register to
vote electronically, signature and other required
information to register electronically that is in the
possession at the DMV to be transferred to the SOS and to
the county election management systems to allow a person
who is qualified to register to vote in California to
register electronically.
This bill becomes operative upon the date of that either of
the following occurs:
1. The SOS has a statewide voter registration that
complies with the requirements of the federal HAVA.
2. The SOS executes a declaration stating that the
following conditions have occurred:
A. The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission has
approved the use of HAVA funding to provide online
voter registration in advance of the deployment of
the statewide voter registration database.
B. The DMV and SOS have developed a process and the
infrastructure to implement the transfer of a voter
registration applicant's signature and other
information to the SOS and to the county election
management systems.
C. All county election management systems have been
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modified to receive and store electronic voter
registration information received from SOS in order
to allow a person who is qualified to register to
vote in California to register to vote
electronically.
Background
VoteCal and Online Voter Registration . Among other things,
HAVA required every state to implement a single, uniform,
official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide
voter registration list defined, maintained, and
administered at the state level. This statewide voter
registration list will serve as the official list of
eligible voters for any federal election held within the
state. HAVA provided funds to states to develop voter
registration lists and required each state to develop such
a list by January 1, 2004. HAVA also provided a procedure,
however, for states to request a waiver that extended the
deadline to January 1, 2006. The SOS applied for, and
received, such a waiver. At the time HAVA was approved,
California was already using a statewide voter registration
system known as Calvoter that achieved some of the goals of
the voter registration list required by HAVA. However,
Calvoter did not satisfy many of the requirements in that
law, including requirements that the database be fully
interactive and have the capability of storing a complete
voter registration history for every voter.
In January 2005, the SOS sought guidance from the United
States Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding a plan for
compliance with HAVA's statewide voter registration list
requirements. Under the initial plan, the state would
achieve interim short-term compliance with HAVA by
January 1, 2006, through upgrades to Calvoter, with a plan
for long-term compliance through the development and
implementation of a new voter registration system, to be
known as VoteCal. The DOJ, however, expressed concerns
that this plan did not comply with the requirements of
HAVA. Subsequent discussions between the SOS and the DOJ
led to the adoption of a memorandum of agreement (MOA)
between the two parties. In that MOA, the SOS committed to
further upgrades to the Calvoter system to achieve
short-term interim compliance with the requirements of
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HAVA, and to complete development and implementation of a
longer-term solution for replacing the Calvoter system with
a new permanent statewide voter registration system. In
exchange, the DOJ agreed to refrain from initiating
litigation in federal court against the state to enforce
the voter registration list requirements of HAVA. Since
that MOA was signed on November 2, 2005, the state has
continued its efforts to develop the VoteCal system. After
completing a planning process that is required by state law
for all major technology projects, the procurement process
began, and a final deadline for bids to be submitted for
the VoteCal project was set for January 29, 2009. Of all
the vendors who submitted bids for the VoteCal project,
only one - Catalyst Consulting - met all the requirements
of the request for proposal (RFP). Upon obtaining
approvals for expenditure authority for the VoteCal costs,
a contract was executed with Catalyst Consulting on
September 8, 2009, and work on the VoteCal project
commenced.
However, on April 19, 2010, the SOS discovered that the
vendor hired to develop and deploy the VoteCal system had
not obtained a performance bond for the project, even
though the RFP required the vendor to obtain such a bond
within 21 days of the contract being executed.
Additionally, the SOS and the independent project oversight
consultant that was hired to oversee the VoteCal project
both expressed concerns about the ability of Catalyst
Consulting to meet the agreed-upon schedule for VoteCal to
be deployed. On May 21, 2010, the SOS and Catalyst
Consulting agreed to terminate the contract for the
development of VoteCal. Since terminating the contract
with Catalyst Consulting in May, the SOS, in coordination
with the Department of General Services and the California
Technology Agency, has begun the process again of awarding
a contract for the development of VoteCal. A new RFP was
issued on October 29, 2010 but a contract has yet to be
awarded. The delay in the implementation of a statewide
voter registration database that complies with HAVA has
notable impacts on election administration in the state.
Among other programs that have been signed into law and
absent new legislation to provide otherwise, online voter
registration will not go into effect until VoteCal is in
place.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Prior to the current version, costs to SOS was $100,000 and
DMV $250,000.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/26/11)
California Common Cause (source)
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
California Church IMPACT
California Nurses Association
California State Council of the Services Employees
International Union
California State Student Association
California's Public Interest Research Group
Consumer Federation of California
Greenlining Institute
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
Pew Center on the States Election Initiatives
Progressive States Action
Rock the Vote
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
University of California Student Association
EDITORIAL - The Bakersfield Californian
EDITORIAL - Sacramento Bee
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the sponsors, current
law allows voters to submit an affidavit of voter
registration electronically under Elections Code Section
2196 once the VoteCal is implemented. Unfortunately,
VoteCal is delayed until at least 2015. The voter
registration process should be a catalyst, not a barrier to
participation. It would be practical and convenient to
allow for online voter registration. In fact, eleven
states currently or soon will offer online registration,
including North Carolina, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.
This change helped alleviate the expenses of election
cycles in many states. In Arizona, one county went from
paying 83 cents to three cents per registration. This bill
authorizes counties to develop and use an electronic voter
registration system for the electronic submission of an
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affidavit of voter registration. Under this bill, only
people who are qualified to register to vote, who have a
valid California driver's license or state identification
card, and who reside in a county that chooses to
participate in the online voter registration, will be able
to participate. The provisions of this bill remain in
effect only until the SOS certifies that the state has a
statewide voter registration database that complies with
the requirements of HAVA. This bill increases security,
accuracy, and efficiency in voter registrations by creating
a new avenue for voters to register online. Additionally,
the registration information can be automatically verified
for authenticity, increasing registration security and
saving the state and counties time and resources. Voter
registrations now are often handwritten and must be keyed
in by county workers, whereas under this bill, many voters
would be able to enter their own information directly -
minimizing concerns about inaccuracies.
DLW:kc 5/31/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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