BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1446
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Date of Hearing: April 1, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1446 (Mullin) - As Amended: March 25, 2014
SUBJECT : Voter registration: personal information.
SUMMARY : Updates the voter registration process to reflect the
availability of online voter registration. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires an individual or organization that distributes voter
registration cards in accordance with current law, a person
entrusted with an affidavit of registration from an elector in
accordance with existing law, or an individual or organization
that assists with the submission of an affidavit of
registration electronically on the Secretary of State's (SOS)
Internet Web site, to comply with both of the following:
a) Prohibits the use of affidavit of registration
information for any personal, private, or commercial
purpose, including for any of the following:
i) The harassment of a voter or member of the voter's
household;
ii) The advertising, solicitation, sale, or marketing of
products or services to a voter or member of the voter's
household; and,
iii) Reproduction in print, broadcast visual or audio, or
display on the Internet.
b) Requires an individual or organization described above
to employ reasonable security measures, including employing
administrative and physical safeguards, and, for affidavit
of registration information available in an electronic
form, technical safeguards, to protect the voter
registration information from unlawful disclosure and
misuse.
2)Eliminates the requirement that every high school, California
Community College (CCC), and California State University (CSU)
campus provide voter registration forms that are consistent
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with the number of students enrolled at each school who are of
voting age or will be of voting age by the end of the year.
3)Deletes the requirement that every CCC and CSU campus that
operates an automated class registration system must permit
students, during class registration, to elect to receive a
voter registration form that is preprinted with personal
information relevant to voter registration, as specified, and
instead requires the school to permit students, during class
registration, to apply to register to vote online by
submitting an affidavit of voter registration electronically
on the SOS's Internet Web site.
4)Requires the SOS to report to the Legislature, as specified,
how many electronic affidavits of voter registration were
submitted by students via the process described above.
5)Deletes Legislative intent language that every high school and
college student receive a voter registration card with his or
her diploma and instead provides that it is the intent of the
Legislature that every eligible high school and college
student receive a meaningful opportunity to apply to register
to vote. Provides that a meaningful opportunity to apply to
register to vote may include providing hyperlinks to, and the
Internet Web site of, the SOS's electronic voter registration
system in notices sent by electronic mail to students and
placed on the Internet Web site of the high school, college,
or university.
6)Repeals provisions of law that allow a county elections
official to provide affidavits of registration and voter
registration cards on its Internet Web site, as specified and
instead prohibits an affidavit of registration from being
submitted electronically on a county's Internet Web site.
Permits a county to provide a hyperlink on the county's
Internet Web site to the SOS's electronic voter registration
system.
7)Requires an individual or organization that distributes voter
registration cards, as designed in accordance with current
law, to obtain the voter registration cards from the county
elections official or the SOS. Requires the individual or
organization to comply with all applicable regulations
established by the SOS when distributing the cards.
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8)Requires a person, company, or other organization that agrees
to pay money or other valuable consideration to a person to
assist another person to register to vote by assisting with
the submission of an affidavit of registration electronically
on the SOS's Internet Website to comply with certain
conditions that currently apply to individuals who receive
compensation to assist others to register to vote using a
paper voter registration form.
9)Expands and updates existing crimes related to voter
registration to include assisting with the submission of an
affidavit of registration electronically on the SOS's Internet
Web site.
10)Makes other conforming and corresponding changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that a person who is qualified to register to vote
and who has a valid California driver's license or state
identification card may submit an affidavit of voter
registration electronically on the SOS's Internet Web site.
2)Requires the SOS, in consultation with county elections
officials, to design and make an affidavit of registration
available on the SOS's Internet Web site, as specified.
3)Permits a citizen or an organization to distribute voter
registration cards anywhere in the applicable county, as
specified.
4)Establishes penalties for fraudulent activity related to voter
registration.
5)Requires a person, company, or other organization that agrees
to pay money or other valuable consideration to a person to
assist another person to register to vote to comply with
certain conditions, as specified.
6)Requires an affiant's driver's license number, identification
card number, social security number, and the signature
contained on an affidavit of registration or voter
registration card to be confidential and not be disclosed by
an individual or organization that distributes voter
registration cards.
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7)Requires every CCC and CSU campus that operates an automated
class registration system, as specified, to permit students,
during class registration, to elect to receive a voter
registration form that is preprinted with personal information
relevant to voter registration.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Since the introduction of California's online voter
registration application in September of 2012, more than a
million Californians have used the application to register
to vote. The online application provides a cost-effective,
accurate, secure, and convenient way to apply to register
to vote. However, voter registration is not always
conducted privately or on devices owned by the applicant.
For example, advocacy organizations, political parties,
campaigns, non-partisan civic groups, and other entities,
which are an important part of voter registration outreach,
often assist applicants with registration. With the advent
of online voter registration, many of these organizations
may want to use computers or mobile devices, including
smart phones, tablets or laptops, to help register voters.
California has laws and regulations for voter registration
drives that ensure the privacy of voters' personal
information, outlaw the discrimination or intimidation of
voters, and facilitate fraud investigations. However,
existing law is specific to the use of paper voter
registration cards and does not clearly apply to online
registration.
AB 1446 updates the Elections Code by applying many of
these same duties and responsibilities to online
registration drives. In addition, the bill takes into
account the unique nature of internet-based registration by
applying reasonable limits and safeguards to protect voter
privacy and prevent the unlawful use of voter registration
information.
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AB 1446 also updates the Student Voter Registration Act to
reflect the availability of online voter registration. For
many years, the Secretary of State has partnered with the
University of California, California State University, and
Community Colleges, as well as with all California high
schools, to give students access to voter registration.
Under current law, students registering for college classes
online are given an opportunity to register to vote.
However, those systems were not directly linked to the
online voter registration system. This bill updates the
Student Voter Registration Act to allow for the continued
use of paper voter registration cards while including the
increased efficiency, accuracy, and convenience of online
voter registration.
AB 1446 protects the personal information of those who,
with the assistance of a third party, register to vote
online; and it updates the Student Voter Registration Act
to better integrate online voter registration.
2)Online Voter Registration : SB 397 (Yee), Chapter 561,
Statutes of 2011, authorized the SOS, in conjunction with the
California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), to implement
online voter registration prior to the completion of a new
statewide voter registration database. According to the SOS's
office, in the first 12 months after the launch of the online
voter registration application on September 19, 2012, more
than 911,145 Californians registered for the first time or
updated their voter record using the online system.
Additionally, aside from making registering to vote easier, it
has also saved California money in printing and mailing costs
and made the process more efficient for county elections
officials.
According to the author's statement, due to the increased usage
of the online voter registration system, many third parties,
such as advocacy organizations, political parties, campaigns,
non-partisan civic groups, and other entities may desire to
conduct voter registration drives using computers or mobile
devices, such as smart phones, tablets, or laptops, to
register voters using the online voter registration system.
However, current law is tailored more to paper voter
registration cards and does not clearly apply to online voter
registration. This bill updates the voter registration
process to reflect the availability of online voter
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registration and ensures that the duties, responsibilities,
and safeguards in current law that apply to paper based voter
registration drives, as specified, are applied to individuals
and organizations conducting voter registration using the
online registration system. Additionally, this bill expands
the scope of existing voting registration crimes to apply to
those conducting voter registration drives using online voter
registration, as specified.
3)Student Voter Registration Act of 2003 : AB 593
(Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 819, Statutes of 2003, created the
Student Voter Registration Act of 2003 which, among other
things, requires the SOS to provide every high school, CCC,
CSU, and University of California (UC) campus with voter
registration forms and information describing eligibility
requirements and instructions on how to return the completed
form. SB 854 (Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 481, Statutes of 2007,
amended the law to require every CCC and CSU that operates an
automated class registration system to permit students, during
the class registration process, to receive a voter
registration application that is preprinted with personal
information relevant to voter registration, as specified.
Under the law, the UC is encouraged to comply with this
provision.
As mentioned above, in September 2012, the SOS launched
California's online voter registration application system
allowing people to electronically submit their entire voter
registration application, including their signature on file
with the DMV, via a secure infrastructure developed by the
SOS.
The Student Voter Registration Act also requires the SOS to
provide every high school, CCC, CSU, and UC campus with voter
registration forms. Specifically, current law requires the
SOS to send voter registration cards to each school consistent
with the number of students enrolled at each school that are
of voting age or will be of voting age by the end of the year.
However, according to the SOS's 2009 annual report to the
Legislature, automatically mailing to each high school and
college campus based solely on the number of 17- and
18-year-old students enrolled, was not cost effective.
Consequently, since 2009, given the cost of the program, and
feedback from many schools that they did not need additional
voter registration applications, the SOS's office has been
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proactively contacting all schools to ask how many, if any,
voter registration applications the campuses would like to
receive. This bill updates this practice and deletes
provisions of the Student Voter Registration Act that
specifically requires the SOS to send every high school, CCC,
and CSU voter registration forms that are consistent with the
number of students enrolled at each school who are of voting
age or will be of voting age by the end of the year.
Additionally, this bill updates the Act to reflect the advent
of online voter registration and deletes provisions of law
that permit students, during the class registration, to elect
to receive a voter registration form that is preprinted with
personal information relevant to voter registration and
instead permits students, during class registration, to apply
to register to vote online by submitting an affidavit of voter
registration electronically on the SOS's Internet Web site.
4)Previous Legislation : SB 44 (Yee), Chapter 277, Statutes of
2013, required each Internet Web site maintained by the state
to include a hyperlink on the site's homepage to the online
voter registration page of the Internet Web site of the SOS.
SB 397 (Yee), Chapter 561, Statutes of 2011, authorized the SOS,
in conjunction with the DMV, to implement online voter
registration prior to the completion of a new statewide voter
registration database.
AB 1357 (Swanson), Chapter 192, Statutes of 2011, required the
SOS, in consultation with county election officials, to design
and make an affidavit of registration available on the SOS's
Internet Web site, among other provisions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Secretary of State Debra Bowen (sponsor)
Rock the Vote
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094
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