BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 131|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 131
Author: Williams (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND. COMM. : 3-1, 6/4/13
AYES: Hancock, Yee, Torres
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 47-23, 4/4/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Voter registration: affidavits: rebuttable
presumptions
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill provides that a person's failure to
identify his/her place of birth on an affidavit of registration
must not preclude his/her affidavit from being deemed complete.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires an affidavit of voter registration to show the facts
necessary to establish an affiant as an elector.
2.Requires an affidavit of voter registration to contain a space
for the registrant to provide his/her state or country of
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birth.
3.Provides that if the county elections official receives an
affidavit of registration that does not include portions of
the information for which space is provided, the county
elections official shall apply specified rebuttable
presumptions.
This bill provides that a person's failure to identify his/her
place of birth on an affidavit of registration must not preclude
his/her affidavit from being deemed complete.
Background
Existing state law allows county elections officials to process
voter registration applications even when certain information
has not been provided by the applicant. For example, if no
middle name or initial is shown on the voter registration card,
it is presumed that none exists. However, if an applicant does
not list a place of birth, the law requires county elections
officials to contact the voter before processing the voter
registration card.
Election officials are required to accept the federal
registration application which does not require applicants to
identify their place of birth, and both the current California
voter registration affidavit, and the Federal Voter registration
form require that a voter declare under penalty of perjury that
he/she is a citizen of the United States.
Prior Legislation
SB 1434 (Price), 2010, would have created a rebuttable
presumption, when a person failed to identify his/her place of
birth on an affidavit of registration, that the person is
eligible to vote if he/she marked the box on the voter
registration affidavit indicating that he/she was a citizen of
the United States. SB 1434 was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger, who argued that the most effective solution
would be to simply remove information relating to place of birth
from the state form.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 6/5/13)
Secretary of State (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Common Cause
California Teachers Association
League of Women Voters of California
Registrar of Voters of Santa Barbara County
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
county election officials must engage in the time consuming
practice of contacting potential voters when a piece of
information is missing from a voter registration form. While
all information requested of potential voters is important, a
person's place of birth is not used to confirm his/her
eligibility to vote. The question of place of birth is
duplicative in nature because it is not utilized to verify
eligibility. The eligibility of the potential voter is verified
in the signature box under penalty of perjury. Further,
counties have no clear authority to process incomplete
registration cards that omit place of birth.
This bill clarifies that if a registrant fails to identify
his/her place of birth, it is presumed that he/she is eligible
to register to vote as long as he/she marked the box stating
that he/she is a citizen of the United States and signs the
affidavit under penalty of perjury. Additionally, this bill
protects voting rights and assists counties with cost savings by
removing the mandate to contact registrants and obtain this
information.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 47-23, 4/4/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Fong, Garcia,
Gomez, Gordon, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Torres, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John
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A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Gatto, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones,
Linder, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Fox, Frazier, Gorell, Gray, Hall,
Logue, Lowenthal, Olsen, Vacancy
RM:nl 6/5/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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