BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                 UNFINISHED BUSINESS


          Bill No:  SB 113
          Author:   Jackson (D), et al.
          Amended:  8/19/14 
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM.  :  4-1, 4/2/13
          AYES:  Correa, Hancock, Padilla, Yee
          NOES:  Anderson

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  5-1, 1/23/14
          AYES:  De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
          NOES:  Gaines
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Walters

           SENATE FLOOR  :  24-8, 1/28/14
          AYES:  Beall, Block, Calderon, Corbett, Correa, De León,  
            DeSaulnier, Evans, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso,  
            Jackson, Leno, Liu, Mitchell, Padilla, Pavley, Roth,  
            Steinberg, Torres, Wolk, Yee
          NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Huff, Knight,  
            Vidak, Wyland
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Gaines, Lara, Lieu, Monning, Nielsen,  
            Walters, Wright, Vacancy

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  54-21, 8/25/14 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Elections:  voter registration

           SOURCE  :     Secretary of State


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           DIGEST  :    This bill expands pre-registration by authorizing a  
          16-year-old to pre-register to vote once pre-registration is in  
          effect, provided he/she meets all other eligibility  
          requirements, as specified.

           Assembly Amendments  add double-jointing language with AB 2562  
          (Fong);  provide that a county elections official is not  
          required to mail a residency confirmation postcard to any person  
          under 18 years of age who has submitted a properly executed  
          affidavit of registration and who will not be 18 years of age on  
          or before the primary election; prescribe the format of the  
          voter pre-registration notice and make conforming changes;  
          prohibit the provisions in this bill from becoming operative  
          unless the Secretary of State (SOS) certifies that the state has  
          a statewide voter registration database that complies with the  
          federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA); and make other  
          clarifying and technical changes.

           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law:

          1. Permits a person who is a United States citizen, a resident  
             of California, not in prison or on parole for the conviction  
             of a felony, and at least 18 years of age at the time of the  
             next election to register to vote. 

          2. Requires states to implement a statewide voter registration  
             database, as specified, pursuant to the federal HAVA. 

          3. Permits a person who is at least 17 years of age and who  
             otherwise meets all eligibility requirements to vote to  
             submit his/her affidavit of registration.  Such a properly  
             executed registration is deemed effective as of the date that  
             the affiant will be 18 years of age, provided that the  
             information in the affidavit of registration is still current  
             at that time.  The registrant must provide current  
             information to the county elections official before the  
             registration becomes effective if the information in the  
             current affidavit is incorrect. 

          4. Provides that the provisions regarding preregistration of  
             17-year-olds become operative only if the SOS certifies that  
             the state has a statewide voter registration database that  

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             complies with the requirements of HAVA.

          5. Requires the local registrar of births and deaths to notify  
             the county elections official monthly of all deceased persons  
             17 years of age and over whose deaths were registered with  
             him/her or of whose deaths he/she was notified by the state  
             registrar of vital statistics.

          This bill:

          1.Lowers the minimum age for submitting an affidavit of  
            registration for purposes of pre-registering to vote from 17  
            to 16 years of age. 

          2.Requires a county elections official, in lieu of sending a  
            voter notification card required by existing law, to send a  
            voter pre-registration notice to a person under 18 years of  
            age who submits an affidavit of registration in accordance  
            with existing law or the provisions of this bill, upon the  
            determination that the affidavit of registration is properly  
            executed and that the person otherwise satisfies all  
            eligibility requirements to vote, except that he/she is under  
            18 years of age.  Requires the county elections official to  
            send the voter pre-registration notice by nonforwardable,  
            first-class mail, address correction requested. 

          3.Creates a pre-registration voter notification card and  
            requires the card to be sent to a person under 18 years of age  
            who submits an affidavit of registration in accordance with  
            existing law or the provisions of this bill.  Requires the  
            pre-registration voter notification card to be in the  
            following form: 

                              VOTER NOTIFICATION 

               Thank you for registering to vote. You may vote in any  
               election held on or after your 18th birthday. 

               Your party preference is: (Name of political party) 

               Before any election in which you are eligible to vote, you  
               will receive a sample ballot and a voter pamphlet by mail. 

               If information on this card is incorrect, please contact  

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               our office or update your registration at the Internet Web  
               site of the Secretary of State (SOS). 

          4.Provides that a county elections official is not required to  
            mail a residency confirmation postcard pursuant to existing  
            law to any person under 18 years of age who has submitted a  
            properly executed affidavit of registration pursuant to the  
            provisions of this bill and who will not be 18 years of age on  
            or before the primary election. 

          5.Makes other corresponding changes. 

          6.Provides that the provisions of this bill shall become  
            operative only if the SOS certifies that the state has a  
            statewide voter registration database that complies with the  
            requirements of the federal HAVA. 

          7.Contains double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems  
            with AB 2562 (Fong) of the current legislative session.

           Background
           
           Other states  .  According to the National Conference of State  
          Legislatures (NCSL), the following 14 states permit voter  
          registration before the age of 18, but none prior to 16 (and  
          none permit voting until the age of 18):  Alaska, California,  
          Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota,  
          Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wyoming.

          NCSL also reports that the following 12 states permit  
          17-year-olds to vote in the primary election (presidential  
          caucuses in Iowa) if the voter will turn 18 before the general  
          election:  Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine,  
          Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont,  
          and Virginia.

           VoteCal status  .  The SOS has been in the process of implementing  
          a new statewide voter registration database for several years,  
          as required by the federal HAVA of 2002.  After difficulties  
          with the prior vendor and the termination of that contract, the  
          SOS recently announced the selection of a new contractor to  
          develop the new VoteCal statewide voter registration database.   
          The Department of General Services approved the contract on  
          March 6, 2013.  The SOS estimates that VoteCal will be fully  

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          implemented by 2016.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

          According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, minor annual  
          General Fund net costs, in the range of $50,000, to the extent  
          the availability of pre-registration to 16-year-olds increases  
          overall voter registration among those age 18 to 24 by about  
          10%.  This cost estimate includes sending voter pre-registration  
          notices and assumes 60% of pre-registration would occur online  
          and the balance on paper, and that some of these  
          pre-registrations would have otherwise occurred at age 17, as  
          allowed under existing law once VoteCal is operational. 

          County costs to process additional registrations will be covered  
          through the existing reimbursement formula for this activity.

           SUPPORT :   (Verified  8/25/14)

          Secretary of State (source)
          California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
          California Common Cause
          CALPIRG
          Common Cause
          League of Women Voters of California
          Rock the Vote
          SEIU California
          University of California Student Association
          Vote Latino

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author:

            California has one of the lowest voter registration rates in  
            the nation, and youth aged 18-24 years old stand out as the  
            group that is registering at a far lower rate than any other  
            age group. 

            Even in the presidential election year of 2012, while nearly  
            80% of Californians were registered to vote, only 62% of  
            18-to-24-year-olds were registered.  Studies have shown that  
            the earlier people are introduced to voting, the more likely  
            they are to become life-long participants in democracy. 


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            SB 113 would not change the voting age, which is 18.  But it  
            would allow youth to pre-register to vote either online, by  
            mail, or at the DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles], beginning  
            at age 16.  Assuming they meet all eligibility requirements,  
            once they turn 18, their registration would become active?


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  54-21, 8/25/14
          AYES:  Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,  
            Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,  
            Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox,  
            Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall,  
            Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal,  
            Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel  
            Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,  
            Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams,  
            Yamada, Atkins
          NOES:  Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,  
            Donnelly, Beth 
            Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Logue, Maienschein,  
            Mansoor, Melendez, Olsen, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Gorell, Linder, Nestande, John A. Pérez,  
            Vacancy


          RM:k  8/26/14   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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