BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2530
                                                                  Page  1


          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 2530 (Rodriguez)
          As Amended  May 23, 2014
          Majority vote 

           ELECTIONS           5-1         APPROPRIATIONS      12-5        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Fong, Mullin, Hall,       |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra,         |
          |     |Perea, Rodriguez          |     |Bradford,                 |
          |     |                          |     |Ian Calderon, Campos,     |
          |     |                          |     |Eggman, Gomez, Holden,    |
          |     |                          |     |Pan, Quirk,               |
          |     |                          |     |Ridley-Thomas, Weber      |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |Nays:|Logue                     |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
          |     |                          |     |Linder, Wagner            |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Authorizes an elections official, when comparing the  
          signatures on a vote by mail (VBM) ballot identification  
          envelope, to use signature verification technology.  Requires an  
          elections official to not reject a ballot if the signature  
          verification technology determines that the signatures do not  
          compare unless he or she visually examines the signatures and  
          verifies that the signatures do not compare.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, any costs for manual verification to counties who  
          elect to use signature verification technology would not be  
          state reimbursable.

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, "California voters are  
          increasingly choosing to vote by mail. During the November 2012  
          statewide election, for the first time ever in a general  
          election, a majority of California voters chose to cast  
          vote-by-mail ballots.  Current law requires a voter's signature  
          on a provisional or mail ballot envelope to compare with a  
          signature found in the voter's registration record.  To  
          accommodate provisional ballots and the growing number of  
          vote-by-mail ballots, many elections officials use signature  
          comparison software to verify signatures. When software cannot  
          verify that a signature compares, the existing practice is that  








                                                                  AB 2530
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          the election official visually examines the signatures to  
          determine if the ballot will be counted.  However, this practice  
          is not required by law. 

          "Signatures often vary over time and human eyes may identify a  
          natural progression among the signatures in the voter's record.   
          A computer may fail to recognize that progression.  It is also  
          possible that the county may have a poor quality signature image  
          - either on file or scanned from the ballot envelope - that  
          requires human eyes rather than comparison by software. 

          "AB 2530 codifies existing best practices in the use of  
          signature verification technology that both allow California  
          elections officials to use automated systems and also ensure no  
          voter's ballot is rejected without a human review of the  
          signatures."

          Current law requires a county elections official, upon receiving  
          a VBM ballot, mail ballot precinct ballot, or provisional  
          ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope  
          with the signature appearing in the voter's registration record,  
          as specified.  If the signatures compare, existing law requires  
          the county elections official to deposit the ballot, still in  
          the identification envelope, in a ballot container in his or her  
          office.  Due to an increase in VBM and provisional ballots, and  
          to make the verification process more efficient, many county  
          elections officials use signature verification technology to  
          compare and verify signatures on ballot identification  
          envelopes.  

          Historically, the main reasons why a ballot is rejected for a  
          signature mismatch is because the signature is unreadable,  
          missing or has changed and is out of date.  As mentioned above  
          in the author's statement, computer signature verification  
          technology is not infallible and unfortunately there are  
          circumstances that may lead the verification software to  
          incorrectly determine that a signature on an identification  
          envelope does not compare to the signature on the voter's  
          registration record.  For example, the location of the voter's  
          signature on the envelope, a problem with the digital image of  
          the signature, or an outdated signature, all may lead  
          verification software to incorrectly determine that the  
          signatures do not match. Consequently, it is the existing  
          practice of county elections officials to visually compare  








                                                                  AB 2530
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          signatures that signature verification technology finds do not  
          compare before rejecting a voted ballot.  However, this practice  
          is not required by law.  This bill codifies this procedure.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)  
          319-2094 


                                                                FN: 0003716