BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 19
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 19 (Ting) - As Amended: April 30, 2013
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:4-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes an Internet Voting Pilot Program, subject
to specified requirements. Specifically, this bill:
1)Allows a county to conduct a pilot internet voting program,
but only for a local election in which the ballot does not
also include candidates for a state or federal office or a
state proposition, and only after successfully conducting a
test program, as specified.
2)Requires the pilot program to use an internet voting system
certified by the Secretary of State (SOS), and requires that
the use of internet voting can only be a supplement to any
existing voting system used by the county.
3)Allows a county, person or corporation to apply to the SOS to
examine and certify, according to specified procedures, an
internet voting system.
4)Requires a county conducting the pilot to evaluate the program
and its experience and report to the Legislature and the SOS.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Pursuant to current law, the cost for testing each internet
voting system would be paid by the applicant.
2)One-time General Fund costs incurred by the SOS would be
$15,000 for SOS staff involved with the testing and an
estimated $250,000 for development of new protocols for
testing an internet voting system. According to the SOS, since
protocols for internet voting systems do not exist, new
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testing methods will need to be developed, involving the many
platforms of personal computers and wireless networks,
workplace computers and networks, multiple scenarios of
internet transmission, the vendor's computer center firmware
and software, the election official's computer capacity, and
the interface with the elections management system.
3)The SOS anticipates additional costs associated with
investigating complaints that would likely arise following
deployment of an internet voting system.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author believes that, given that voters are
accustomed to the using the internet for personal and business
transactions, including voter registration, "it is
counterintuitive that they cannot use the internet to
participate in the electoral process." The author believes
that availability of internet voting will encourage greater
voter participation and may offer additional benefits, such as
the ability to inform voters if they have made an error in
marking their ballot, and the easy translation of a ballot
into any language.
2)Opposition . According to Secretary of State Debra Bowen,
"There is widely shared agreement among private and public
computer security experts, including cyber security officials
at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, that casting
ballots over the Internet is not secure and cannot be made
secure. Unlike other voting systems, Internet voting can be
attacked by anyone, anywhere in the word who has a computer
and an Internet connection? Large sophisticated corporations
like Google and Citibank, both with enormous security
resources, have been successfully hacked within the past three
years and have had critical assets such as source code stolen.
Source codes, as you are aware, are critical to the security
and operation of voting systems. I have many technical
concerns with the language of the bill?However, even if all of
my technical concerns were addressed, I would remain strongly
opposed to any measure that would permit an Internet voting
system be used in any election in California."
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Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081