BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair
BILL NO: AB 938 HEARING DATE: 7/2/13
AUTHOR: WEBER ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 6/25/13
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Voting: felons
DESCRIPTION
Existing law permits a person who is a United States 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, to register to vote.
Existing law requires the clerk of the superior court in each
county to furnish the chief elections official of the county,
not less frequently than the first day of April and the first
day of September of each year, with a statement showing the
names, addresses, and dates of birth of all persons who have
been convicted of felonies since the clerk's last report.
Existing law requires the county elections official to cancel
the affidavits of registration of those persons who are
imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony.
Existing law requires the Legislature to provide for the
disqualification of electors while imprisoned or on parole for
the conviction of a felony.
This bill requires the clerk of the superior court in each
county, when furnishing the elections official with a list of
persons who have been convicted of felonies - not including any
person who was placed on probation pursuant to existing law - to
also include the last four digits of the social security number
(SSN) of each person, if available, along with their name,
address, and date of birth.
This bill requires a county elections official to cancel the
affidavit of registration of each person who is currently
imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony whose
name, address, date of birth, and , if available, the last four
digits of his or her SSN, is the same as reported on the court
clerk's statement.
AB 938 (WEBER)
Page 2
BACKGROUND
California Disenfranchisement Laws : Under California law, any
person who is imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a
felony is prohibited from voting and elections officials are
required to cancel the voter registrations of such individuals.
However, a person who is on probation for the conviction of a
felony is permitted to vote. While it would seem that the
determination of whether an individual is eligible to vote is
fairly straightforward, there has been a great deal of confusion
about what constitutes being "imprisoned" for the conviction of
a felony.
For instance, it is not uncommon for a person who has been
convicted of a felony to be ordered to serve time in county jail
as a condition of probation . To the extent that a person is
serving time in county jail as a condition of probation, that
person is not considered to be "imprisoned" for the conviction
of a felony under California law, and thus, that person remains
eligible to vote, even while he or she is in the county jail.
COMMENTS
1. According to the Author : AB 938 clarifies the information
that courts send to elections officials regarding persons
with a criminal conviction.
Specifically the bill requires that the statement also include
the last four digits of the person's SSN, if available. The
bill also would specify that the county elections official is
required to cancel the affidavit of registration of a person
imprisoned or on parole for a felony conviction whose name,
address, date of birth, and the last four digits of his or
her social security number, if available, are the same as
reported on the court clerk's statement.
AB 938 will protect the integrity of our voting system by
ensuring the accuracy of our voter rolls, preventing over- or
under-purging.
AB 938 will eliminate ambiguity in the law and confusion among
California voters. Confusion around voter eligibility is a
contributing factor to the state's low voter registration
rate. California has one of the lowest voter registration
AB 938 (WEBER)
Page 3
rates in the nation, falling behind 44 other states.
2. Similar Legislation : AB 742 (Salda�a) of 2009, would have
required the clerk of the superior court in each county, when
furnishing the elections official with a list of persons who
have been convicted of felonies, to include only persons who
have been sentenced to state prison, instead of including all
persons who were convicted of felonies, whether they were
sentenced to prison or not. That bill was vetoed by then
Governor Schwarzenegger.
AB 938 (WEBER)
Page 4
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-1
Assembly Floor: 50-27
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Advancement Project
A New Way of Life Reentry Project
Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality
Asian Law Caucus
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
California Common Cause
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
City and County of San Francisco
Community Coalition
Drug Policy Alliance
East Bay Community Law Center
Mayor Edwin Lee, City of San Francisco
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
Project Vote
Rock the Vote
Oppose: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
Secretary of Sate
AB 938 (WEBER)
Page 5