BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 813|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 813
Author: Melendez (R)
Amended: 4/16/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/4/13
AYES: Anderson, Hancock, Yee, Torres
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Election results
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS) and
county elections officials to post on their respective Internet
Web sites and to maintain on these Internet Web sites for at
least 10 years, their certified statement of election results in
a downloadable spreadsheet format, as specified, that is
compatible with software widely in use at the time of posting.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires the elections official who conducts an election to
prepare a certified statement of the results of the election
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and submit it to the governing body within 28 days of the
election or, in the case of school district, community
college district, county board of education, or special
district elections conducted on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in November of odd-numbered years, no later than
the last Monday before the last Friday of that month.
2. Requires the SOS to compile results and prepare, certify,
and file a statement of the vote from the compiled results,
as specified.
3. Requires an elections official to send the SOS, in an
electronic format, the specified results.
This bill:
1. Requires the SOS and county elections officials to post on
their respective Internet Web sites and to maintain on these
Internet Web sites for at least 10 years, their certified
statement of election results in a downloadable spreadsheet
format, as specified, that is compatible with software widely
in use at the time of posting.
2. Provides that this requirement applies only to those
counties with a computer system capable of compliance without
undergoing any modification.
Background
Electronic Results . Existing law already requires elections
officials to provide results in an electronic format for certain
elections. Specifically, county elections officials are
required to provide the SOS with results in an electronic format
for elections for state and federal office, and for statewide
ballot measures. State law provides for these results to be
transmitted electronically to the SOS in the manner requested by
the SOS, but does not explicitly state a specific format in
which those results must appear.
Most county elections officials already make election results
available on their Internet Web sites -- 57 of 58 county
elections officials have results posted on the Internet for the
most recent election held in the county, and 52 of 58 county
elections officials have results for at least some elections
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prior to the most recent election. In most cases, however,
election results are available in HTML or PDF format, and not in
a format that can easily be imported into a spreadsheet
application. At least seven counties, however, currently
provide election results on their Internet Web sites in a format
that appears to comply with the requirements of this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/24/13)
California Association of Clerks and election Officials
California Election Protection Network
Voting Rights Task Force of Alameda County
Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
current California election law requires only one paper copy of
the results of an election to be posted where the votes were
counted for public inspection. However, modern technology makes
this law seem prehistoric and in need of updating. It also does
not provide an adequate way for an individual to analyze
election data to maintain that the election was done honestly.
This bill requires counties' Registrar of Voters and the SOS to
post the certified statement of election results online in a
downloadable spreadsheet file such as comma-separated values
(.csv) or tab-separated values (.tsv). This allows for greater
election transparency by allowing an individual to easily access
and analyze election results using modern modes of technology
such as Microsoft Excel.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
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Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Holden, Logue, Waldron, Vacancy
RM:k 6/24/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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