BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 817
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 817 (Bonta)
As Amended May 14, 2013
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 5-2
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bocanegra, Bonta, | | |
| |Hall, Weber | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Donnelly, Logue | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes county elections officials to appoint a
person who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States
(U.S.) and who is otherwise eligible to register to vote, except
for his or her lack of U.S. citizenship, to serve as a precinct
board member. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that in order to promote civic engagement among
residents of the state and to provide additional members of
precinct boards, an elections official may appoint not more
than five nonvoters per precinct to serve as precinct board
members.
2)Permits a nonvoter to be appointed, notwithstanding their lack
of eligibility to vote, if the nonvoter possesses the
following qualifications:
a) Is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. in accordance
with the provisions of the federal Immigration and
Nationality Act; and,
b) Is otherwise eligible to register to vote pursuant to
existing law except for his or her lack of U.S.
citizenship.
3)Prohibits a nonvoter appointed to a precinct board pursuant to
this bill from being used by the precinct board to tally
votes.
EXISTING LAW :
AB 817
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1)Provides that a person is entitled to register to vote if that
person is a U.S. citizen, a resident of California, not in
prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony, and at
least 18 years of age at the time of the next election.
2)Requires a member of a precinct board to be a voter of the
state, except if the precinct board member is a pupil, as
specified.
3)Requires elections officials to make reasonable efforts to
recruit election officers who are fluent in a language if 3%
or more of the voting age residents in any precinct are fluent
in that language and lack sufficient skill in English to vote
without assistance. Requires an elections official, at least
14 days before an election, to prepare and make available to
the public a list of the precincts to which officials were
appointed as described above and the language or languages
other than English in which they will provide assistance.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Over 2.6 million eligible
voters in California are not yet fully proficient in English,
including 47% of eligible voters who are naturalized. Without
language assistance, these citizens face challenges in asserting
their right to vote and casting an informed ballot. This
assistance includes the recruitment of bilingual individuals to
serve as poll workers on Election Day. Many voters with
language barriers rely on bilingual poll workers to navigate the
voting process.
"However, for large counties or counties with new language
obligations, the task of recruiting bilingual poll workers can
be daunting. As the diversity of the state increases, new tools
are needed to ensure that language assistance is available at
the polling place and in the voter registration process. AB 817
addresses this need by expanding the pool of available bilingual
speakers to serve as poll workers and other election volunteers.
AB 817 seeks to replicate the successful high school student
poll worker program which a number of counties have used to
bolster their poll worker recruitment. AB 817 does not impose
any mandates on counties."
AB 817
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Existing law allows a high school student to serve as a precinct
board member, despite his or her lack of eligibility to vote, as
long as the student is 16 years old at the time of the election,
is a U.S. citizen at the time of the election, is in good
standing at his or her high school, and has a grade point
average of at least 2.5. County elections officials are allowed
to recruit up to five student poll workers at each precinct.
The provisions of this bill are similar to the requirements in
place for student poll workers. This bill seeks to promote
civic engagement among residents of the state and provide for
additional precinct board members by allowing the elections
official to appoint up to five nonvoters per precinct to serve
as precinct board members. A nonvoter may be appointed, despite
his or her lack of eligibility to vote, as long as the nonvoter
is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and is otherwise
eligible to register to vote, except for his or her lack of U.S.
citizenship.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094
FN: 0000567