BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1589 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mike Gatto, Chair AB 1589 (Frazier) - As Introduced: February 3, 2014 Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill deletes the stipulation that a military or overseas voter's email address is only valid, for purposes of receiving voter information and a ballot, up to December 31 of the year following the calendar year of the voter's application, and instead requires an elections official to provide for electronic delivery of a ballot to a military or overseas voter who makes a standing request for all elections conducted in the jurisdiction in which he or she is eligible to vote. FISCAL EFFECT Negligible costs for county elections official to maintain email addresses of military and overseas voters beyond the current expiration period. COMMENTS 1)Background . AB 1805 (Huffman)/Statutes of 2012, was a uniform law establishing new voting procedures for military and overseas voters and was intended to be applicable in multiple states that have different election procedures. AB 1805 was an effort to address the lack of uniformity between states regarding the ability of overseas and military voters to vote in state and local elections. Applying a uniform law across states, however, can be complicated and have unintended consequences. 2)Purpose . AB 1589, sponsored by the Secretary of State, seeks to address a provision that could unintentionally result in the disenfranchisement of military or overseas voters. This bill eliminates a provision of law requiring a military and AB 1589 Page 2 overseas voter to renew his or her request every two years in order to receive voter information and a blank, unvoted ballot by email. Under current law, a military or overseas voter that requests his or her ballot be transmitted via mail or facsimile is not subject to the same requirements, thus their request is considered a standing request for each election until such time that the voter changes their preference or does not vote in a certain number of regularly scheduled statewide elections. Prior to enactment of AB 1805, no expiration date applied to requests to receive a VBM ballot via electronic transmission. This bill therefore reestablishes consistency among all three means of transmittal, and will ensure all requests from military and overseas voters to receive VBM ballots are treated the same. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081