BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 397| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 SB 397 Page 2 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 SB 397 Page 3 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 SB 397 Page 4 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. SB 397 Page 5 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 SB 397 Page 6 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 **** END ****