BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 882|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 882
Author: Gordon (D)
Amended: As introduced
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 : 76-0, 4/25/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Recall elections: state officers: signature
verification
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill corrects an inconsistency in current
election law regarding the process governing the verification of
signatures on a recall petition.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides that, upon each submission of a section of a
petition for the recall of a state officer to a county
elections official, the official shall count the number of
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signatures on the section and submit those results to the
Secretary of State (SOS). If 500 or more signatures are
submitted, the elections official may verify, using a random
sampling technique, either 3% of the signatures submitted, or
500 signatures, whichever is less.
2. Requires elections officials, when using a random sampling
technique to determine the number of valid signatures on a
petition for the recall of a local officer, to examine at
least 500 signatures or 5% of the signatures, whichever is
greater.
This bill:
1. Corrects an inconsistency in current election law regarding
the process governing the verification of signatures on a
recall petition.
2. Provides that if 500 or more signatures are submitted to an
elections official on a petition for the recall of a state
officer, the elections official may verify, using a random
sampling technique, either 3% of the signatures submitted or
500 signatures, whichever is greater, instead of verifying
the lesser of the two amounts.
Background
Existing law permits elections officials to use a random
sampling technique when verifying the signatures on petitions in
certain situations where officials are presented with petitions
with large numbers of signatures. Under this technique,
officials select a specified number of signatures from the
petition at random, check the validity of those signatures, and
based on that check of a small number of signatures, project the
total number of valid signatures on the petition. Existing law
generally provides that the results of a random sample of
signatures can only be substituted for a full verification of
all signatures on the petition when the projected number of
signatures is either significantly above or significantly below
the number of signatures needed. By avoiding the need to
examine every signature on every petition filed with an
elections official, the random sampling technique can
significantly reduce the time and expense associated with
verifying signatures on petitions.
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In almost every case where random sampling is allowed, existing
law requires the elections official to verify either a certain
number of signatures, or a certain percentage of the total
number of signatures submitted, whichever is larger. In the
case of petitions for the recall of a state officer, however,
for any petition that has 500 signatures or more, existing law
provides that the elections official must examine either 500
signatures or 3% of the signatures on the section of the
petition, whichever is less. This bill provides that elections
officials must examine the greater of 500 signatures or 3% of
the signatures on the section of such petitions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/21/13)
Secretary of State (source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, under
existing law, the various provisions addressing requirements for
qualifying a recall for a ballot are inconsistent. If fewer
than 500 signatures for a recall petition are submitted to the
county elections official, he/she shall count the number of
signatures and, for state officers, submit those results to the
SOS. This bill reconciles the inconsistency between standards
for random sampling for a state officer's recall so that it is
consistent with the process in place for local recalls, the
general petition verification law, and local ballot measures.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/25/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
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Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cooley, Lowenthal, Nazarian, Vacancy
RM:k 6/25/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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