BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1589|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1589
Author: Frazier (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND. COMM. : 4-0, 6/17/14
AYES: Padilla, Hancock, Jackson, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/5/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Military or overseas voters: electronic ballots
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill deletes provisions of law that require a
military or overseas voter's electronic mail address to expire
no later than December 31 of the year following the calendar
year of the 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/she is
eligible to vote.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Requires an elections official to request an electronic mail
address from each military or overseas voter who registers to
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vote.
2.Allows a military or overseas voter who provides an electronic
mail address to request that his/her application for a ballot
be considered a standing request for electronic delivery of a
ballot for all elections held through December 31 of the year
following the calendar year of the date of the application, or
another shorter period the voter specifies.
3.Requires an elections official to provide a ballot to a
military or overseas voter who makes a standing request for
each election to which the request is applicable.
This bill deletes provisions of law that require a military or
overseas voter's electronic mail address to expire no later than
December 31 of the year following the calendar year of the
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/she is eligible to
vote.
Background
In 2012, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed AB 1805
(Huffman, Chapter 744, Statutes of 2012) which was a uniform law
that established new voting procedures for military and overseas
voters and was written in a way that it could 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, which complicates efforts to
more fully enfranchise those voters. Applying a uniform law
across states however, can be complicated and have unintended
consequences.
Under existing law, a military or overseas voter that requests
his/her ballot be transmitted via mail or facsimile is not
subject to the same requirements. As a result, if a military or
overseas voter requests that his/her ballot be received via mail
or facsimile, that request is considered to be a standing
request for each election until and unless such time that the
voter changes their preference or does not vote in a certain
number of regularly scheduled statewide elections, as specified.
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Prior to the passage of AB 1805 state law did not require an
expiration date to apply to requests to receive a vote-by-mail
ballot via electronic transmission.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/2/14)
Secretary of State (source)
The Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
members of the military and other U.S. citizens living overseas
are allowed to receive their voter information and blank,
unvoted ballots by mail, fax, or email. For voters who request
their ballot by mail or by fax, that request is considered to be
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.
However, voters who request their ballot be emailed to them are
treated differently because under state law, a voter's request
to receive a ballot by email is only good for two years. Only
military and overseas voters who request their ballot by email
are subject to this "expiration" of their ballot delivery
address.
For some members of the U.S. military serving overseas, an email
address may be their most effective method of contact with an
elections official. If state law continues to require that the
email addresses of overseas soldiers must be renewed every two
years, it is likely that some of the people who put their lives
on the line for democracy will be disenfranchised when their
email address expires. No other address provided for ballot
delivery automatically expires unless that expiration is
specifically requested by the voter.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/5/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove,
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Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, Gorell, Jones, Logue, Mansoor,
Melendez, Patterson, Vacancy
RM:nl 7/2/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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