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 
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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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