BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 641
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Date of Hearing: August 17, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 641 (Calderon) - As Amended: May 31, 2011
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:4-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill allows a person to register to vote and to vote at the
office of a county elections official any time between 14 days
before election day and up to and including election day, if
certain requirements are met. Specifically, this bill:
1)Permits any person who is otherwise qualified to register to
vote, in addition to existing methods of voter registration,
to complete a conditional voter registration and cast a
provisional ballot, at any permanent office of the county
elections official, during the 14 days immediately preceding
an election or on election day.
2)Provides that a conditional voter registration is effective
only if the county elections official is able to determine
before or during the canvass period for the election that the
registrant is able to register to vote and has provided at
least one form of identification deemed acceptable under the
Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).
3)Provides that if a conditional registration is deemed
effective, the elections officials shall include the
corresponding provisional ballot in the official canvass.
4)Requires elections officials to cancel any duplicate voter
registrations that may exist as a result of a conditional
registration.
5)Requires elections officials, if it appears that a registrant
may have committed fraud, to notify both the district attorney
and the Secretary of State (SOS).
SB 641
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6)Increases, from $10,000 to $25,000, the maximum fine that may
be imposed for a felony conviction of an election crime, for
which no other penalty is prescribed.
FISCAL EFFECT
Moderate annual General Fund reimbursable costs of $300,000 to
$600,000, assuming $5,000 to $10,000 per county to accommodate
voter registration, principally on election day, at county
elections offices. This includes the costs for staffing,
providing sufficient ballot types for a voter residing anywhere
in the county, processing the additional voter registrations,
and any additional handling associated with processing the
ballots. These costs will vary by county, and will depend on the
extent that eligible voters avail themselves to this option,
which could be limited given that same-day registration would
not be available at polling places. For high turnout elections,
costs could be much higher than those assumed above. Costs would
be offset to an unknown extent by a reduction in counties'
existing workload associated with provisional ballots.
The 2011-12 Budget Act suspends all six existing
elections-related mandates, including requirements for counties
to allow any voter to become a permanent vote-by-mail (VBM)
voter and to tabulate VBM ballots by precinct.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Current law allows individuals eligible to vote to
register up to 15 days prior to an election. This bill would
additionally allow voters to register and vote up to and
including election day at county elections offices. The author
notes that California is ranked 41st in state voter turnout,
and cites research showing that election-day registration can
considerably boost voter turnout.
2)Other States : Ten states and the District of Columbia have
some form of election day voter registration. Idaho, Iowa,
Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Wyoming,
and Washington, DC generally permit election day voter
registration at most or all elections, while Connecticut and
Rhode Island permit election day voter registration only for
Presidential elections. Six of these states (Idaho, Iowa,
Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) and
Washington DC allow election day voter registration at the
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polling place, while the other four states (Connecticut,
Maine, Montana, and Rhode Island) instead require voters to go
to another specified location (often the office of the local
elections official) to register to vote on election day.
3)Potential Impact . According to a study conducted earlier this
year by Dmos, a public policy research and advocacy
organization that often advocates for election day
registration, enacting election day registration in California
could increase overall turnout by 4.8%, with larger increases
in participation by voters aged 18 to 25, by voters who had
moved in the last six months, and by Latinos and
newly-naturalized citizens. These projections assume voters
would be allowed to register to vote on election day at the
polling place, however. The study notes that requiring voters
"to engage in excessive travel on election day is not likely
to facilitate as many voters utilizing Ýelection-day
registration] as would a system allowing voters to simply
register and vote at their local polling place."
4)Opposition. The California Association of Clerks and Elections
Officials (CACEO) argues that the provisions of this bill
should not be put into practice until the statewide voter
registration database (VoteCal) is fully functioning (not
expected until 2015). In addition, the CACEO expressed concern
regarding the logistics and funding required to manage a large
influx of voters taking advantage of this process on election
day.
5)Prior Legislation . Similar legislation in 2010 (SB 1140, Yee)
was held on this committee's Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081