BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 397
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Date of Hearing: July 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
SB 397 (Yee) - As Amended: May 31, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 25-14
SUBJECT : Online voter registration.
SUMMARY : Permits online voter registration to begin prior to
the completion of a new statewide voter registration database,
if certain conditions are met. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the
Secretary of State (SOS) to develop a process and the
infrastructure to allow the electronic copy of the signature
of a person who is registering to vote to be transferred to
the SOS and to county election management systems to allow a
person who is qualified to register to vote in California to
register to vote electronically on the Internet Web site of
the SOS.
2)Permits online voter registration to begin, pursuant to
conditions outlined in existing law, on the date that either
of the following occurs:
a) The SOS certifies that the state has a statewide voter
registration database that complies with the requirements
of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA); or,
b) The SOS executes a declaration stating that the
following conditions have occurred:
i) The United States 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;
ii) The DMV and the SOS have developed a process and the
infrastructure necessary to transfer the electronic copy
of a person's signature from the DMV to the SOS and to
county election management systems; and,
iii) All county election management systems have been
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modified to receive and store electronic voter
registration information received from the SOS in order
to allow a person who is qualified to register to vote in
California to register to vote pursuant to this bill.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits a person from being registered to vote except by
affidavit of registration. Requires a completed affidavit of
registration to include, among other things, the signature of
the person who is registering to vote.
2)Requires, pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act of
1993, that each state's motor vehicle driver's license
application submitted to the state's motor vehicle authority
to serve as an application for voter registration with respect
to elections for Federal office unless the applicant fails to
sign the voter registration application.
3)Requires the DMV to require digitized signatures on each
driver's license. Requires the DMV to provide the SOS with
the digitized signature of every person who registers to vote
on a voter registration card provided by the DMV.
4)Permits 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. Provides that this provision is operative only when the
SOS certifies that the state has a statewide voter
registration database that complies with the requirements of
HAVA. Requires the SOS to obtain an electronic copy of the
applicant's signature from his or her driver's license or
state identification card directly from the DMV for each voter
registration affidavit that is executed electronically through
the SOS's web site.
5)Requires a person who is registering to vote on the SOS's web
site, pursuant to the procedure outlined above, to do all of
the following:
a) Attest to the truth of the information provided in the
online registration;
b) Assent to the use of his or her signature from his or
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her driver's license or state identification card for voter
registration purposes;
c) Provide the number from his or her driver's license or
state identification card;
d) Provide his or her date of birth;
e) Provide the last four digits of his or her social
security number; and,
f) Provide any other information the SOS deems necessary to
establish the identity of the affiant.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
The current law allows voters to submit an affidavit
of voter registration electronically under Elections
Code § 2196 once the statewide online database known
as VoteCal is implemented. Unfortunately, VoteCal is
delayed until at least 2015.
In the 21st century, especially here in California, it
is long overdue to have online voter registration. SB
397 will not only help protect the integrity of the
vote, but will allow many more individuals the
opportunity to register and participate in our
democracy.
SB 397 would also minimize the practice of individuals
being paid to collect voter registration cards and
instead sending in fake names in order to fulfill a
quota or to make more money.
By using online registration, the voter would enter
their own information helping to eliminate spelling
errors or an election office being unable to read the
paper registration. It will also eliminate
administrative errors from incorrect data entry of the
paper registration by election clerks.
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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. Washington State saved $176,000 in the first
year of implementing online voter registration and
reduction per transaction cost from $2 to $0.50.
Mariposa County, the largest election jurisdiction in
Arizona saved over $1 million in Ŭthe] five years
Ŭsince] they offered online registration. Another
county in Arizona went from paying 83˘ to 3˘ per
registration.
SB 397 allows Elections Code § 2196 to be operative
before the implementation of a statewide voter
registration database. The intention of the bill is to
develop a system what would be used permanently even
after the implementation of VoteCal.
2)Online Voter Registration and VoteCal : On October 29, 2002,
President George W. Bush signed the Help America Vote Act
(HAVA) of 2002 (116 STAT. 1666, Public Law 107-252). Enacted
partially in response to the 2000 Presidential election, HAVA
was designed to improve the administration of federal
elections. Among other provisions, HAVA requires 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.
At the time HAVA was approved, California was already using a
statewide voter registration system, known as Calvoter, which
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.
Discussions between the United States Department of Justice
(Justice Department) and the SOS 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 HAVA, and to complete development and
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implementation of a longer term solution for replacing the
Calvoter system with a new permanent statewide voter
registration system. That new permanent system is commonly
known as VoteCal.
Since the plans for VoteCal were initially developed, the
Legislature has approved a number of bills that sought to take
advantage of some of the capabilities available in VoteCal
that are not presently available with Calvoter. One of those
bills was SB 381 (Ron Calderon), Chapter 613, Statutes of
2008, which will allow a person to register to vote on the
Secretary of State's (SOS) Internet web site if he or she has
a valid California driver's license or state identification
card. That online voter registration will not become
operative until VoteCal has been deployed. According to
information provided to the Legislature when it was
considering SB 381, online voter registration is expected to
save the state and counties a significant amount of money on
reduced costs for printing, processing, and data input from
paper voter registration forms. Additionally, online voter
registration is expected to improve the accuracy of the voter
registration rolls by cutting down on data entry errors and
errors that occur due to illegible voter registration forms,
while making voter registration more convenient for many
voters.
At the time the Legislature was considering SB 381, the VoteCal
system was expected to be deployed by 2010. However, since
that time, delays in the procurement process pushed back the
estimated completion date for the VoteCal system.
Additionally, while the state awarded a contract for the
development of VoteCal in 2009, that contract was canceled due
to concerns about the ability of the vendor to meet the
agreed-upon schedule for VoteCal to be deployed. As a result,
the contract for the development of the VoteCal system
recently was put back out to bid, and a contract is not
expected to be awarded until next year, at the earliest, and
the system is not expected to be fully operational until 2015.
This bill would allow online voter registration to proceed
outside of the development of the VoteCal system, provided
that the DMV, the SOS, and county elections officials make the
necessary adjustments to existing systems to allow the SOS to
obtain an electronic copy of the signature from the DMV of
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each person attempting to register to vote online, and to
transmit that signature to the appropriate county elections
official. This bill may help accelerate the availability of
online voter registration, and thus accelerate the anticipated
cost savings from deploying such a system. At the same time,
however, this bill could require the state to incur additional
costs for functionality that will be part of the VoteCal
system.
3)Online Voter Registration in Other States : According to
information from the National Conference of State
Legislatures, nine states currently offer online paperless
voter registration (Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas,
Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington).
Additionally, Maryland enacted a law earlier this year to
permit online voter registration. The Hawaii Legislature
unanimously approved a bill this year to implement online
voter registration by 2014, but the Governor has announced his
intent to veto the bill due to concerns that the bill did not
contain an appropriation to pay for the development of the
online voter registration system.
4)Arguments in Support : In support of this bill, the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors writes:
The federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993
provides for state departments of motor vehicles to
make voter registration information and materials
available to an applicant for a driver's license and
other vehicular documents. Existing state law
requires persons to provide the ŬDMV] a signature, and
requires the DMV to digitize that signature and
forward it to the ŬSOS] if a person wishes to register
to vote.
Under existing law, operative when the ŬSOS] certifies
that the state has a statewide voter registration
database, a person who is qualified to register to
vote and who has a valid DMV-issued license or
identification card may submit an affidavit of voter
registration electronically on the Secretary of
State's Internet Web site.
Currently, it is estimated that more than one million
Los Angeles County residents are eligible to register
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to vote but have not done so. Online voter
registration would greatly expand access for many of
these potential voters. In addition, the Los Angeles
Registrar-Recorder notes that significant cost
avoidances may be expected as the use of paper-based
voter registration forms declines.
5)Related Legislation : AB 1357 (Swanson), which is pending
on the Senate Floor, would require the SOS to make the
state's voter registration form available online for
voters to complete, print, sign, and mail to the
appropriate elections official.
AB 896 (Portantino) would have permitted a county elections
official to accept voter registration affidavits that
were signed with digital signatures and transmitted
electronically. AB 896 failed passage in this committee
twice earlier this year, and thus may not be considered
further during this session pursuant to Joint Rule 62(a).
Unlike AB 896, this bill would not permit a digital
signature obtained from any touchscreen device to be used
to register a person to vote. Instead, a person would be
eligible to register to vote on the Internet pursuant to
this bill only if that person had a signature on file
with the DMV. Furthermore, pursuant to the procedures
outlined in this bill, any electronic transmission of
voter registration information would be limited to
secured transmission through systems developed and
operated by state and local government agencies.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Common Cause (sponsor)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (prior
version)
California Church IMPACT (prior version)
California Nurses Association
California State Student Association (prior version)
California Teachers Association
CALPIRG (prior version)
Consumer Federation of California (prior version)
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
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Orange County Registrar of Voters (prior version)
Pew Center on the States Election Initiatives (prior version)
Progressive States Action (prior version)
Rock the Vote (prior version)
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Service Employees International Union, California State Council
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (prior version)
University of California Student Association (prior version)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094