BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 29
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 29 (Correa)
As Amended August 11, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :27-10
ELECTIONS 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bocanegra, Bonta, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Hall, Perea | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Donnelly, Logue |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Allows vote by mail (VBM) ballots to be counted if
they are cast by election day and received by the elections
official by mail no later than three days after the election.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that a VBM ballot is timely cast if it is received by
the voter's elections official via the United States Postal
Service (USPS) or a bona fide private mail delivery company no
later than three days after election day and either of the
following is satisfied:
a) The ballot is postmarked or is time stamped or date
stamped by a bona fide private mail delivery company on or
before election day; or,
b) If the ballot has no postmark, a postmark with no date,
or an illegible postmark, the VBM ballot identification
envelope is date stamped by the elections official upon
receipt of the VBM ballot from the USPS or a bona fide
private mail delivery company, and is signed and dated by
the voter on or before election day.
2)Allows jurisdictions that have the necessary computer
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capability to begin processing VBM ballots on the 10th
business day prior to the election, instead of the seventh
business day prior to the election.
3)Extends the deadline for elections officials to prepare a
certified statement of the results of an election from 28 days
after the election to 30 days after the election.
4)Allows counties to continue to use envelopes and other
official election materials that do not take into account the
provisions of this bill until the supply of those materials is
exhausted.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor net reimbursable costs or minor net savings.
County elections officials will incur additional costs to
manually check for a postmark on all ballots arriving up to
three days following election day and to date-stamp ballots
received within this timeframe that do not have a postmark. An
unofficial count indicates that more than 20,000 ballots arrived
too late to be counted at the last statewide general election.
At this level, the additional costs to counties statewide would
likely be very minor. As more voters become aware that they may
mail their VBM ballot as late as election day, many more ballots
are likely to arrive after election day, and the additional
costs to counties will increase commensurately. Offsetting these
additional costs, however, are provisions in the bill allowing
counties to begin processing VBM ballots three days earlier and
providing two additional days to certify election results.
These provisions will reduce counties' personnel costs to
conduct every election. The likely net result of this bill is
thus insignificant net costs or savings.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "SB 29 provides that any
valid vote-by-mail ballot will be accepted if it is postmarked
on or before Election Day and received by the elections official
no later than three days after Election Day. A date stamp from
a bona fide mail delivery service, such as FedEx will also be
accepted.
"Late delivery of otherwise valid ballots has long been a
problem but will grow worse given the U.S. Postal Service's
[USPS] plans to continue closing mail processing centers.
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"According to estimates, as many as 26,000 mail ballots arrived
too late to be counted in California's November 2010 election -
and this was prior to the USPS cutbacks."
In 2012, the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee and
the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee
held a joint oversight hearing to discuss USPS facility closures
and the impact on voters and upcoming elections. During the
hearing, state and county elections officials testified about
the impact that recent post office and processing facility
closures had on their jurisdictions and on local elections, as
well as the anticipated challenges with more closures expected.
According to testimony from elections officials, one of the most
significant impacts those closures had on the election process
is that there had been significant delays in mail delivery in
some circumstances. Elections officials from counties that were
previously served by closed facilities have indicated that some
first class mail took five to seven days to arrive after
closures of USPS facilities, compared to the usual delivery time
of one to three days.
To the extent that these closures and additional future closures
planned by the USPS result in mail delivery delays, voters who
mail their ballots within a reasonable timeframe could, through
no fault of their own, find themselves disenfranchised.
According to information from the National Association of
Secretaries of State, three states require mail ballots from
civilians living in the United States to be returned prior to
election day in order to be counted, while 36 states (including
California) require such ballots to be received by election day.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia allow mail ballots
from civilians living in the Unites States to arrive after
election day and still be counted as long as the ballot is
postmarked (or in some cases, signed and dated) by election day.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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