BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair
BILL NO: AB 817 HEARING DATE: 6/18/13
AUTHOR: BONTA ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 5/20/13
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Election officials
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that a person is entitled to register to
vote if that person is a United States (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.
Existing law requires a member of a precinct board to be a voter
of the state, except if the precinct board member is a pupil.
Existing law provides that in order to provide for greater
awareness of the election process, the rights and
responsibilities of voters, and the importance of participating
in the electoral process, as well as to provide additional
members of precinct boards, an elections official may appoint no
more than five pupils per precinct to serve under the direct
supervision of precinct board members designated by the
elections official.
Existing law prohibits a pupil appointed to serve as a precinct
board member from tallying votes. Existing law also provides
that a pupil may be appointed, notwithstanding his or her lack
of eligibility to vote, subject to the approval of the governing
board of the educational institution in which the pupil is
enrolled, if the pupil possesses the following qualifications:
a) Is at least 16 years of age at the time of the election to
which he or she is serving as a member of the precinct board;
b) Is a U.S. citizen or will be a citizen at the time of the
election to which he or she is serving as a member of the
precinct board;
c) Is a pupil in good standing attending a public or private
secondary educational institution; and,
d) Is a pupil who has a grade point average of at least 2.5 on a
4.0 scale.
Existing law requires elections officials to make reasonable
efforts to recruit election officers who are fluent in a
language if three percent 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. This bill 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.
Existing law requires each precinct board to post, in a
conspicuous location in the polling place, at least one copy of
the ballot with ballot measures and ballot instructions printed
in Spanish in counties where the Secretary of State (SOS) has
determined it is appropriate, and also requires the ballot to be
posted in other languages if a significant and substantial need
is found by the SOS.
This bill authorizes county elections officials to appoint a
person who is a lawfully admitted permanent resident of the 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.
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2) Permits a nonvoter to be appointed, notwithstanding their
lack of eligibility to vote, if the nonvoter possesses the
following qualifications:
a) Is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in 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 from
serving as, or performing any of the duties of the inspector
of a precinct board, or tallying votes for the precinct
board.
BACKGROUND
Standard for Bilingual Precinct Workers : Existing law requires
an elections official to make reasonable efforts to recruit
elections officers who are fluent in a language other than
English if three percent or more of the voting age residents in
the precinct are fluent in that language and lack sufficient
skill in English to vote without assistance. Additionally,
existing law requires each precinct board to post a copy of the
ballot in a language other than English at the polling place if
the SOS determines that the number of residents of voting age in
the precinct who are members of a single language minority and
who lack sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance
equals three percent or more of the voting age residents in the
precinct.
New Census Data : On October 13, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau
released a notice of determination of minority language status
following the 2010 Census. Pursuant to Section 203 of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), the State of California is
required to provide bilingual voting assistance to Spanish
speakers.
Additionally, pursuant to Section 203, 27 of California's 58
counties are individually required to provide bilingual voting
assistance to Spanish speakers, and eight counties (Alameda, Los
Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San
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Mateo, and Santa Clara) are required to provide voting materials
in at least one language other than English and Spanish.
Pursuant to Section 4(f)(4) of the VRA, three counties are
required to provide bilingual voting assistance to Spanish
speakers, though two of those counties are also required to
provide assistance pursuant to Section 203. In total, 28 of
California's 58 counties are required to provide voting
materials in at least one language other than English.
In addition, existing state law requires the SOS, in each
gubernatorial election year, to determine the precincts where
three percent or more of the voting age residents are members of
a single language minority and lack sufficient skills in English
to vote without assistance. According to a January 4, 2013,
memo from the SOS's office, the SOS has contracted with U.C.
Berkeley for a preliminary analysis of county language
requirements for the June 2014 gubernatorial primary election.
According to the memo, based on a preliminary analysis of the
data, the SOS has determined that most counties show an increase
in the number of precincts with individuals who speak the nine
languages that are covered in California under federal law
(Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog,
Thai, and Vietnamese). Depending on the data, the county
elections officials will be required to translate a copy of the
ballot and related instructions into the languages indicated and
post them at the appropriate polling places.
The preliminary breakdown of the counties that will have
additional languages required under state law is attached to
this analysis.
COMMENTS
1. 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.
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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.
2. Related Legislation : SB 1233 (Padilla) of 2012, would have
required the title and summary of proposed statewide ballot
measures to be translated into the applicable languages
covered in that county. SB 1233 was vetoed by Governor
Brown, who in his veto message stated, "[t]he provisions of
this bill are well intended?however, they add substantial
burdens to the petition process without commensurate
benefit."
AB 1814 (Eng) of 2012, would have required counties to submit a
report to the SOS describing the county's plan for compliance
with state and federal laws enacted to assist voters with
limited English proficiency, no later than 120 days before
the first statewide election, among other provisions. AB
1814 was held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-2
Assembly Floor: 49-23
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Asian Law Caucus (ALC), Co-Sponsor
Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), Co-sponsor
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed
Officials
(NALEO) Educational Fund, Co-Sponsor
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Support: 18MillionRising.org
American Civil Liberties Union of California (ACLU)
API Equality - Northern California
Asian American Center for Advancing Justice
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian Law Alliance
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
API-Equality-LA
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
(CACEO)
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Teachers Association
California Common Cause
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment
(CAUSE)
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Filipina Women's Network
Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI)
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA)
The Greenlining Institute
Khmer Girls in Action
Korean Resource Center
Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San
Francisco Bay Area
League of Women Voters of California
Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC)
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA)
South Asian Network
Southeast Asian Resource Action Center
Southwest Center for Asian Pacific American Law
(SCAPAL)
Tenderloin Housing Clinic
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC)
Thai Community Development Center
Oppose: None received
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AB 817 Bonta - Attachment
Counties that will have additional languages required under
state law
(New languages are indicated in bold)
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Statewide: Spanish
Alameda: Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi,
Japanese, Khmer, Korean
Alpine: None
Amador: Spanish
Butte: Spanish
Calaveras: Spanish
Colusa: Spanish
Contra Costa: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean
Del Norte: Spanish
El Dorado: Spanish, Tagalog
Fresno: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Khmer
Glenn: Spanish
Humboldt: Spanish
Imperial: Spanish
Inyo: Spanish
Kern: Spanish, Tagalog
Kings: Spanish, Tagalog
Lake: Spanish
Lassen: Spanish
Los Angeles: Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer,
Korean, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese
Madera: Spanish
Marin: Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean
Mariposa: Spanish
Mendocino: Spanish, Chinese
Merced: Spanish
Modoc: Spanish
Mono: Spanish
Monterey: Spanish, Korean, Tagalog, Chinese
Napa: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese
Nevada: Spanish
Orange: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Khmer
Placer: Spanish, Tagalog
Plumas: Spanish
Riverside: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese
Sacramento: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi,
Japanese, Korean
San Benito: Spanish
San Bernardino: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Khmer
San Diego: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Khmer, Korean
San Francisco: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Japanese
San Joaquin: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Khmer
San Luis Obispo: Spanish, Tagalog
San Mateo: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Korean
Santa Barbara: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese
Santa Clara: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Hindi, Khmer
Santa Cruz: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog
Shasta: Spanish
Sierra: Spanish
Siskiyou: Spanish
Solano: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese
Sonoma: Spanish
Stanislaus: Spanish
Sutter: Spanish, Hindi
Tehama: Spanish
Trinity: Spanish
Tulare: Spanish, Tagalog
Tuolumne: Spanish
Ventura: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog
Yolo: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog
Yuba: Spanish
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