BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 267
AUTHOR: Pavley
AMENDED: March 21, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 17, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
NOTE : This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and
Elections and Constitutional Amendments. A "do pass"
motion should include
referral to the Committee on Elections and Constitutional
Amendments.
SUBJECT : Polling places: higher education campuses.
SUMMARY
This bill requires county elections officials to establish
precincts consisting solely of each campus of a community
college, California State University and University of
California, and corresponding polling places, if the campus
meets certain requirements.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires:
1) An elections official to, among other things,
establish a convenient number of election precincts
within the affected jurisdiction, define the precinct
boundaries, and designate a polling place for each
precinct at least 29 days prior to the election.
(Elections Code § 12286)
2) An elections official to undertake necessary measures
in the locating of polling places to ensure that
polling places meet the guidelines promulgated by the
Secretary of State for accessibility by the physically
handicapped. (Elections Code § 12280)
3) A precinct boundary to be fixed in a manner so that
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the number of voters in the precinct does not exceed
1,000 on the 88th day prior to the day of election.
Elections officials are authorized to subtract the
number of permanent vote by mail voters from the total
number of voters to reach the threshold of 1,000
voters. (Elections Code § 12223)
4) Requires school districts to allow use of school
buildings for polling places if a city or county
elections official makes such a request.
(Elections Code § 12283)
5) County elections officials to offer conditional voter
registration and provisional voting, and authorizes
county elections officials to offer conditional voter
registration and provisional voting on Election Day.
(Elections Code § 2170)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires county elections officials to establish
precincts consisting solely of each campus of a community
college, California State University and University of
California, and corresponding polling places, if the campus
meets certain requirements. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires county elections officials to establish
precincts and polling places consisting solely of each
campus of a California Community College (CCC),
California State University (CSU) and University of
California (UC), if the campus meets all of the
following requirements:
a) The campus is within the county's
jurisdiction.
b) At least 1,000 people live on the campus.
c) The campus complies with accessibility
requirements and guidelines for polling places
established by the Secretary of State.
2) Requires the CCC and CSU, and requests the UC, to
provide access for use of their campuses as polling
places. This bill provides that this bill does not
apply to a UC campus that refuses a request for access
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to the campus as a polling place.
3) Authorizes county elections officials to establish
multiple polling places within a campus to meet the
unique population needs of each campus. This bill
also authorizes county elections officials to
establish polling places on campuses that are
otherwise not required to be established pursuant to
this bill.
4) Encourages each campus with a polling place and county
elections officials to inform the campus community
that only voters who are registered with the campus
precinct boundaries are allowed to vote at the campus
polling place.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Engaging
students in the democratic system of government is
critically important. While California has been at
the cutting edge of improving access to voting, many
college students living on campus do not have
convenient access to the ballot box. Although some
campuses have been successful in obtaining a
polling place, other haves not. This creates
unnecessary hurdles between students and the polls,
particularly for those studying far away from home."
2) What's the problem ? According to information provided
by the author's office, nine of the ten campuses of
the University of California (UC), and 16 of 23
campuses of the California State University, had
polling places in the November 2012 election.
According to a news article quoting the registrar of
voters for Riverside County relative to the reason a
polling place was not placed on the UC Riverside
campus, "One of the reasons for not selecting the
college as a polling place was due to the high number
of commuter students. Commuter college students who
live in a different county or city are required to
cast a provisional ballot."
3) Removes discretion of county elections officials .
This bill requires elections officials to locate a
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polling place on public college campuses regardless of
a determination by county elections officials as to
the best location (makes sense for voters in area and
accessible to voters) for polling places. This bill
requires the placement of polling places without a
link to the number of people who are registered to
vote within that precinct or to the number of people
who live on a campus. Many students are registered to
vote at their permanent residence (e.g., their
parents' residence). The committee and the author may
wish to consider amending this bill to exclude
counties that do not have a public college with an
adequate number of students residing on campus that
are registered to vote at that campus address.
4) Residing vs. registered . Voting precincts generally
consist of no more than 1,000 voters. This bill
exempts campuses where less than 1,000 people reside.
The committee and the author may wish to consider
amending this bill to instead exempt campuses where
less than 1,000 people reside who registered to vote
in that precinct.
5) Primary elections . This bill requires elections
officials to locate a polling place on public college
campuses for each statewide general and primary
election. Is it prudent to require polling places on
college campuses at times when few students may be on
campus? The committee and the author may wish to
consider amending this bill to exclude state elections
scheduled for June or any other time (special state
elections) when these campuses are on summer or other
types of breaks.
6) Small County Exemption . This bill exempts counties
that have a population under 150,000, which appear to
include Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte,
Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa,
Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, San
Benito, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity,
Tuolumne, and Yuba.
7) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis of prior
legislation, "there are 40 counties in California with
a UC, CSU, and/or CCC campus. Assuming an average
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cost of $1,300 to establish and operate a polling
place, annual reimbursable General Fund costs would be
$52,000. Some counties currently locate polling
places on college campuses. This bill creates a
mandate that requires the state to reimburse counties
for these costs for one college within each county."
8) Prior legislation . AB 346 (Atkins, 2011) would have
required county elections officials to establish at
least one polling place for each state election on a
campus of a CCC, CSU and UC within their respective
counties. AB 346 failed passage in the Senate
Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee on
2-3 vote on June 21, 2011.
SUPPORT
Japanese American Citizens League
OPPOSITION
None on file.