BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 269
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 9, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 269 (Grove & Patterson) - As Amended: April 1, 2013
SUBJECT : Vote by mail ballots: military or overseas voters.
SUMMARY : Allows the vote by mail (VBM) ballot of a military or
overseas voter to arrive up to 10 days after the election and
still be counted, provided that the ballot is postmarked by the
United States Postal Service or the Military Postal Service
Agency on or before election day.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines a "military or overseas voter" as an elector absent
from the county in which he or she is otherwise eligible to
vote who is any of the following:
a) A Member of the active or reserve components of the
United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast
Guard, Merchant Marine, a member of the United States
Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a member of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Commissioned Corps of the United States, or a member on
activated status of the National Guard or state militia;
b) A United States citizen living outside of the
territorial limits of the United States or the District of
Columbia; or,
c) A spouse or dependent of a person described above in
subdivision (a).
2)Provides that any voter who qualifies as a military or
overseas voter has the right to register for, and to vote by a
VBM ballot in any election within the state, including any
general, special, or primary election for any federal or
statewide office or ballot measure that is voted on statewide.
Provides that any voter who qualifies as a military of
overseas voter has the right to register for and to vote by a
VBM ballot in any other election for any office or ballot
measure held in the precinct in which he or she was a resident
when he or she was last living within the territorial limits
AB 269
Page 2
of the United States or the District of Columbia, or in any
precinct of the state in which his or her parent or legal
guardian resided when the parent or legal guardian last lived
within the territorial limits of the United States or the
District of Columbia.
3)Requires all VBM ballots to be received by the elections
official from whom they were obtained or by the precinct board
no later than the close of polls on election day in order to
be counted.
4)Provides that an application for a VBM ballot by a military or
overseas voter is deemed to be an affidavit of registration
and an application for permanent VBM voter status. Provides
that such an application is deemed complete if it contains the
voter's name, the voter's date of birth, the address of the
voter's residence in the state where the voter was last living
within the territorial limits of the United States or the
District of Columbia, or the address of the voter's parent or
legal guardian when the parent or legal guardian was last
living within the United States or District of Columbia, the
address to which the ballot is to be sent, the voter's
political party preference or a statement that the voter
declines to disclose a political party preference, and the
voter's signature.
5)Provides that a completed federal postcard application from a
military or overseas voter is deemed to be an affidavit of
registration, an application for a VBM ballot, and an
application for permanent vote by mail status.
6)Requires the county elections official to send military and
overseas ballots not earlier than 60 days, but not later than
45 days, before an election.
7)Allows a military or overseas voter to use a federal write-in
absentee ballot to vote in any election in which the military
or overseas voter is qualified to vote.
8)Permits a qualified military or overseas voter to register to
vote and apply for a VBM ballot by facsimile transmission.
Requires an elections official to send a VBM ballot to a
military or overseas voter by mail, facsimile, or electronic
transmission, as requested by the voter.
AB 269
Page 3
9)Allows a military or overseas voter who is temporarily living
outside of the United States or the District of Columbia, or
is called for military service within the United States on or
after the final date to make application for a VBM ballot, to
return his or her ballot by facsimile transmission.
10)Permits a qualified military or overseas voter who is unable
to appear at his or her polling place because of being
recalled to service after the final day for applying for a VBM
ballot to appear before the elections official in the county
in which the voter is registered to apply for a VBM ballot.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Californians in our nation's military serve and sacrifice
much to ensure that their family, friends, and neighbors
maintain the right to free and open elections. These
selfless men and women deserve every benefit and
opportunity to ensure that their voices are also heard at
the ballot box, making it as convenient as reasonably
possible for them to cast their vote.
The same should be done for the many Californians living
abroad, whether they are working for American companies in
other countries, serving on religious missions, or
performing humanitarian efforts.
With provisional ballot counting in most California
counties already extending well beyond ten days after
Election Day, the passage of this bill will require few
logistical changes, thus resulting in a very small fiscal
impact to counties - one that is dwarfed by the benefit of
ensuring that the voices of these patriots and oversees
Californians are heard.
2)Facilitating Voting by Overseas Voters : On October 28, 2009,
President Obama signed into law the Military and Overseas
Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act to expand the 1986 Uniformed and
Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which was
AB 269
Page 4
established to protect the rights of service members to vote
in federal elections regardless of where they are stationed.
The MOVE Act builds on UOCAVA to provide greater protections
for service members, their families, and other overseas
citizens.
3)Existing Laws to Facilitate Voting by Overseas and Military
Voters : The provisions of the MOVE Act have been in effect
since the November 2010 election. However, given that
California law already included provisions to facilitate
voting by military members and other California residents who
are outside of the United States, the Secretary of State's
(SOS) office and local elections officials only had to make
minimal adjustments to their practices in order to be in
compliance. For example, the MOVE Act requires states to
establish procedures to allow overseas voters to request voter
registration applications and absentee ballot applications by
mail or electronically, and requires at least one means of
electronic communication for voters to make that request, and
for all states to send, voter registration applications,
absentee ballot applications, and voting information. Current
law allows a military or overseas voter to register to vote
and apply for VBM ballot by facsimile transmission and
requires an elections official to send a VBM ballot by mail,
facsimile, or electronic transmission, as requested by the
voter. Exceeding the requirement of the MOVE Act, current law
allows a military or overseas voter who is temporarily living
outside of the United States or District of Columbia to return
his or her ballot by facsimile transmission.
In addition, the MOVE Act requires states to transmit a
requested absentee ballot to overseas voters not later than 45
days before an election for federal offices. Again,
California law exceeds this requirement by specifically
requiring the county elections official to send all military
and overseas ballots with a list of all candidates who have
qualified for the ballot beginning on the 60th day before the
election, but not later than 45 days before the election,
along with a list of all measures on which the voter is
qualified to vote.
In addition to being compliant with all provisions in the MOVE
Act, California law also makes other accommodations to
facilitate voting by military voters and other California
residents who are outside of the United States. Specifically,
AB 269
Page 5
current law provides that an application for a VBM ballot by a
military or overseas voter is deemed to be a request for voter
registration (if the voter was not already registered to vote)
and an application for permanent VBM voter status. In
addition, California makes all overseas voters permanent VBM
voters, thereby eliminating the need for overseas military
voters and other overseas voters to request a VBM ballot for
each election. Moreover, current law allows a military or
overseas voter to use a federal write-in absentee ballot to
vote in any election in which the military or overseas voter
is qualified to vote.
4)Illegible and Missing Postmarks : It is not uncommon for a
postmark to be smudged or otherwise illegible. Occasionally,
mail does not receive a postmark at all. Under existing law,
this is not a problem for VBM ballots cast in California
elections, as all VBM ballots are required to be received by
the close of polls on election day. Under this bill, however,
an illegible or missing postmark could result in a voter's
ballot being discarded. Voters may be given a false sense of
security that their ballots will be counted as long as they
are mailed by election day, only to have some ballots
disqualified due to the lack of a legible postmark.
5)Delayed Canvass and Potential Amendments : Under existing law,
by the close of polls on election day, county elections
officials have received all the materials necessary to
complete the official canvass of ballots. This bill would
require county elections officials to begin the official
canvass of ballots before they have received all the ballots
that will be included in the final official canvass. While
many smaller counties have no difficulty completing the
official canvass of ballots by the 28 day deadline, larger
counties frequently take the full amount of time available to
certify election results. Especially since larger counties
would likely receive the largest number of ballots after
election day, this bill could hinder the ability of a number
of counties to certify election results by the 28th day after
an election, as required by law.
Even in elections with relatively low turnout, allowing ballots
to arrive up to 10 days after the election and still be
counted could create problems for elections officials. When
elections officials finish processing all the ballots in their
possession and complete all the other tasks required as part
AB 269
Page 6
of the official canvass of an election, the election commonly
is certified at that point, even though the deadline for
certifying an election may be days away. In the case of
special elections held to fill vacancies in the Legislature or
Congress, for instance, it is not uncommon for an election to
be certified just a few days after the election took place.
Under the provisions of this bill, however, the elections
official would have to wait until at least the 10th day after
an election before completing the official canvass and
certifying election results. This could delay the filling of
vacancies and, in the case of primary elections, could delay
the preparation and printing of ballots for a subsequent
general or runoff election. To the extent that this bill
delays the completion of the official canvass at a primary
election, this bill could actually make it less likely that an
overseas voter will have adequate time to vote and return a
ballot for the general or runoff election, because the delay
of finalizing the official canvass while awaiting the
potential arrival of overseas ballots could delay the
production and mailing of ballots for the general or runoff
election.
Furthermore, the California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials, who have taken an "oppose unless amended" position,
point out in their letter that data from recent elections
shows that the majority of late VBM ballots were received by
the first Friday following the election, or within three days
following the election day. Additionally, a recent survey of
the county elections officials shows that the majority of VBM
ballots from military and overseas voters that arrive late
(past 8 p.m. on election day), were received within three days
after election day. In order to prevent against unnecessary
delays and due to this most recent data from the county
elections officials, the author and the committee may wish to
consider amending the bill to require ballots to be received
not later than three days after the election in order to be
counted, instead of 10 days after the election. This
amendment would ensure that elections officials have all the
ballots necessary to complete the official canvass by the end
of the week of the election.
6)State Mandates : The 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 state budgets
included the suspension of various state mandates as a
mechanism for cost savings. Included on the list of
AB 269
Page 7
suspensions were all six existing elections-related mandates.
All the existing elections-related mandates have been proposed
for suspension again by the Governor in his budget for the
2013-2014 fiscal year. The Committee may wish to consider
whether it is desirable to create new election mandates when
current elections-related mandates are suspended.
7)Related Legislation : AB 472 (Patterson), which is pending in
this committee, would allow a VBM ballot of a military or
overseas voter to be counted if it is postmarked on or before
election day and received by the voter's elections official
not later than 10 days after election day.
AB 1157 (Jones), which is pending in this committee, would
allow a VBM ballot of a member of the Armed Forces of the
United States who is an "absent uniformed services voter," as
defined by federal law, to be counted if it is postmarked or
signed and dated on or before election day and received by the
voter's elections official not later than 21 days after
election day, among other provisions.
SB 29 (Correa), which is pending in the Senate Appropriations
Committee, would allow any VBM ballot to be received by the
elections official from whom it was obtained no later than
three days after election day if the ballot is postmarked on
or before election day, or if the ballot has no postmark or an
illegible postmark, the VBM ballot identification envelope is
signed and date on or before election day.
8)Previous Legislation : AB 562 (Fong) of 2012, would have
allowed a VBM ballot to be counted if it was postmarked on or
before election day or signed and dated on or before election
day and received by the elections official no later than three
days after the election, among other provisions. AB 562
failed passage on the Assembly floor.
AB 477 (Valadao) of 2011, was substantially similar to this
bill. AB 477 was held on the Senate Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
SB 348 (Correa) of 2011, would have allowed any VBM ballot to
be counted if the ballot envelope was postmarked by election
day and received by the elections official no later than six
days after election day. SB 348 (Correa) was held on the
Senate Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 269
Page 8
AB 1805 (Huffman), Chapter 744, Statutes of 2012, established
new voting procedures for military and overseas voters, as
defined, to comply with UOCAVA and implement the policies of
that act and the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act
adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform
State Laws.
9)Double-Referral : This bill has been double-referred to the
Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee.
AB 269
Page 9
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AMVETS-Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America-California State Council
Opposition
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (Unless
Amended)
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094