BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 817|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 817
Author: Bonta (D)
Amended: 6/25/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/18/13
AYES: Hancock, Padilla, Yee, Torres
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-23, 5/23/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Elections officials
SOURCE : Asian Law Caucus
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed
Officials Educational Fund
DIGEST : This bill authorizes county elections officials to
appoint a person who is lawfully admitted for permanent
residence in the United States and who is otherwise eligible to
register to vote, except for his/her lack of U.S. citizenship,
to serve as a precinct board member.
Senate Floor Amendments of 6/25/13 make technical changes.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Provides that a person is entitled to register to vote if
that person is a U.S. citizen, a resident of California, not
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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.
3. 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.
4. Prohibits a pupil appointed to serve as a precinct board
member from tallying votes. Also provides that a pupil may
be appointed, notwithstanding his/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 specified qualifications.
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 his/her
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/her lack of U.S. citizenship.
1. 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
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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 3% or more of the voting age residents in the
precinct are fluent in that language and lack sufficient skills
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
Secretary of State (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 3% 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
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 3%
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 University of
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California, 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.
NOTE: Refer to the Senate Elections and Constitutional
Amendments Committee for the preliminary breakdown of the
counties that will have additional languages required
under state law.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/26/13)
Asian Law Caucus (co-source)
Asian Pacific American Legal Center (co-source)
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
Educational Fund (co-source)
Secretary of State
18MillionRising.org
American Civil Liberties Union of California
API Equality - Los Angeles
API Equality - Northern California
Asian American Center for Advancing Justice
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian Law Alliance
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Common Cause
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Teachers Association
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment
Central American Resource Center
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Filipina Women's Network
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Filipino American Service Group, Inc.
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance
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
National Council of La Raza
Search To Involve Pilipino Americans
South Asian Network
Southeast Asian Resource Action Center
Southwest Center for Asian Pacific American Law
Tenderloin Housing Clinic
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
Thai Community Development Center
The Greenlining Institute
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, 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. This
bill addresses this need by expanding the pool of available
bilingual speakers to serve as poll workers and other election
volunteers. This bill seeks to replicate the successful high
school student poll worker program which a number of counties
have used to bolster their poll worker recruitment. This bill
does not impose any mandates on counties.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-23, 5/23/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
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Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Garcia, Gomez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Gatto, Hagman, Harkey, Linder, Logue,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Salas, Wagner, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cooley, Gorell, Grove, Holden, Jones,
Waldron, Vacancy, Vacancy
RM:k 6/26/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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