BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1417
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Date of Hearing: April 23, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1417 (Elections & Redistricting Committee) - As Introduced:
March 20, 2013
SUBJECT : Elections.
SUMMARY : Makes various minor and technical changes to the
Elections Code. Specifically, this bill :
1)Updates and replaces the term "special absentee voter" with
"military and overseas voter."
2)Conforms state law to federal law by requiring elections
officials to send ballots and ballot materials to all military
and overseas voters by the 45th day before the election if
they have made a request for a ballot by that day, regardless
of whether the 45th day before the election is a weekend or
holiday.
3)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS), not less than 73 days,
and not more than 90 days before a general election, to notify
each candidate for partisan and voter nominated office of the
names, addresses, offices, ballot designations, and party
preferences of all other persons whose names are to appear on
the ballot for the same office at the general election.
4)Repeals a requirement that county elections officials prepare
and post a list of names of candidates for delegates for each
political party prior to each presidential primary.
5)Repeals a limitation that the SOS, for the purpose of
assistance in examining a voting system, may employ not more
than three expert electronic technicians at a cost to be set
by the SOS, and instead specifies that the SOS may employ
expert electronic technicians or technician firms.
6)Makes other technical changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires an elections official, not sooner than 60 days but
not later than 45 days before the election or, if the 45th day
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before the election is a weekend or holiday, not later than
the business day preceding the 45th day, to transmit a
military or overseas ballot and ballot material to each
military or overseas voter who by that date submits a valid
ballot application in accordance with existing law.
2)Requires the SOS, not less than five days prior to sending the
county elections official the certified list of candidates for
each partisan and voter-nominated office at the primary
election, to notify each candidate for partisan and
voter-nominated office of the names, addresses, offices,
occupations, and party preferences of all other persons who
have filed for the same office.
3)Requires a county elections official to prepare and post a
list of the names of candidates for presidential delegates for
each political party prior to each presidential primary
election.
4)Permits the SOS, for the purpose of assistance in examining a
voting system, to employ not more than three expert electronic
technicians at a cost to be set by the SOS.
5)Requires a local agency, if it requires candidates to pay for
candidate statements, to estimate the total costs of that
statement, and permits the local agency to require the
candidates to pay those estimated costs in advance. Provides
an exemption for an indigent candidate from paying the fee in
advance. Specifies that nothing prohibits an elections
official from billing the candidate his or her pro rata share
of the cost after the election.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : This is one of the Assembly Elections &
Redistricting Committee's omnibus bills, containing various
minor and technical changes to provisions of the Elections
Code. All of the provisions of this bill are either changes
requested by the California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO) or the SOS, or technical changes identified
and suggested by committee staff.
2)Military and Overseas Voters : Last year, the Legislature
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approved and Governor Brown signed AB 1805 (Huffman), Chapter
744, Statutes of 2012, which establishes new voting procedures
for military and overseas voters, including changing the
terminology used to refer to these voters from "special
absentee voters" to "military and overseas voters." However,
separate legislation that was signed into law last year (AB
1929 (Gorell), Chapter 694, Statutes of 2012), added a new
code section that used the now-outdated "special absentee
voter" terminology. Additionally, AB 1805 failed to change
that terminology and failed to update cross-references
elsewhere in the Elections Code.
This bill updates that terminology and those cross-references to
reflect the changes made by AB 1805.
Additionally, in an attempt to conform to and comply with
federal law, AB 1805 requires ballots for military and
overseas voters to be sent out not later than 45 days before
the election, except where the 45th day before the election is
a weekend or holiday, in which case the ballot is required to
be sent out not later than the business day preceding the 45th
day. However, this language does not strictly comply with
federal law-if an application for a ballot is received from a
military or overseas voter on the 45th day before a federal
election, federal law requires the ballot to be sent out that
day, regardless of whether that day is a weekend or holiday.
Because California only holds elections on Tuesdays, the 45th
day before an election will always fall on a Saturday.
This bill conforms state law to federal law by requiring ballots
to be sent to military and overseas voters no later than 45
days before the election to all voters who have submitted a
valid application by that date, regardless of whether the 45th
day before the election is a weekend or holiday. This
provision was requested by the SOS.
3)Ballot Designations : Existing law requires the SOS to notify
each candidate for partisan and voter-nominated office of the
other persons who have filed for the same office prior to the
primary election. However, while existing law allows a
candidate to change his or her ballot designation between the
primary and the general election, nothing in state law
requires the SOS to notify candidates if another candidate for
the same office changes his or her ballot designation between
the primary and general election.
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This bill would require the SOS to provide such a notification.
This provision was requested by the SOS.
4)Candidates for Presidential Delegates : Existing law requires
county elections officials to prepare and post a list of
candidates for presidential delegates for each political party
prior to each presidential primary election. However, this
procedure is out-of-date, and the delegates who are
representing presidential candidates at the party conventions
may not be identified until after the primary election. As a
result, elections officials no longer prepare this list.
This bill repeals the obsolete requirement for county elections
officials to prepare a list of candidates for presidential
delegates for each political party, and makes a corresponding
change by deleting a cross-reference to Section 13301 of the
Elections Code. This provision was requested by the CACEO.
5)Candidate Statements : Existing law allows any candidate for
local office to submit a candidate's statement, which is
printed in the voter information portion of the sample ballot.
Local agencies have the option of allowing candidates to have
a candidate statement included in the voter information
portion of the sample ballot free of charge, or the local
agency may bill the candidate for the pro-rated cost of
including the statement. If the local agency charges
candidates for their statements, the local agency is
responsible for providing candidates with an estimate of the
total costs, which the candidate must pay to the local agency
or to the elections official. If the candidate statements
cost less than estimated by the local agency, the candidate is
refunded the overpayment, and if the statements cost more than
was estimated by the local agency, the candidate is billed for
the balance of the cost. In 2009, a committee omnibus bill
(AB 1572 (Elections & Redistricting Committee), Chapter 547,
Statutes of 2009) shifted the responsibility for billing
candidates for underpayments from the elections official to
the local agency. However, that omnibus bill did not make a
corresponding change to Section 13309 of the Elections Code,
which establishes a procedure for indigent candidates to have
statements printed free of charge.
This bill makes that corresponding change to Section 13309 of
the Elections Code. This provision was requested by the
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CACEO.
6)Voting Systems : Existing law permits the SOS to employ not
more than three expert electronic technicians to assist in
examining a voting system. However, modern contracting often
splits tasks across several technicians or firms with specific
expertise.
This bill repeals the limit on the number of technicians that
the SOS can employ in examining a voting system, and
explicitly allows the SOS to employ technician firms for such
examinations. This provision was requested by the SOS.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094