BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 267 HEARING DATE: 04/30/13
AUTHOR: PAVLEY ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 03/21/13
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Polling places: public higher education campuses
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires an elections official to designate a
polling place for each precinct at least 29 days prior to
the election and provides that if an elections official
specifically requests the use of a school building for
polling places on an election day, the governing body
having jurisdiction over the particular school building
shall allow its use for the purpose requested.
Existing law requires elections officials, when designating
polling places, to undertake necessary measures to ensure
that polling places meet the guidelines promulgated by the
Secretary of State (SOS) for accessibility by the
physically handicapped.
This bill would require for each election conducted by a
county, elections officials must establish precincts
consisting solely of, and corresponding polling places
within, each campus of a community college, the California
State University, and the University of California, if the
campus meets all of the following requirements:
The campus is within the county or city and county's
jurisdiction.
At least 1,000 people live on the campus.
The campus complies with accessibility requirements and
guidelines for polling places established by the SOS.
This bill requires the California State University and the
California Community Colleges, and requests the University
of California, to provide access for use of their campuses
as polling places. This provision does not apply to a
campus of the University of California if the campus
refuses a request for access to the campus as a polling
place.
This bill also provides for the following:
An elections official may establish multiple polling
places within a campus to meet the unique population
needs of each campus.
Each campus within which a polling place is established
pursuant to this bill and the elections official
establishing the polling place are encouraged to inform
the campus community that only voters who are registered
within the campus precinct boundaries are allowed to vote
at the campus polling place.
An elections official may establish a polling place
within a campus within which a polling place is not
required to be established pursuant to this bill.
BACKGROUND
Polling Places on College Campuses . Current law provides
elections officials discretion in determining polling
places, as long as the selected locations meet specific
requirements, including locating polling places on college
and university campuses. Discussions with county elections
officials indicate that polling places are often located on
public and private college campuses when the colleges
cooperate and there are enough voters registered on the
campus to merit it or when the location and parking
situation on campus makes the polling place convenient for
off-campus voters.
UC and CSU Campuses . According to a survey conducted by
committee staff, nine of the ten campuses of the University
of California (UC), and 16 of the 23 campuses of the
California State University, had polling places in the
November 2012 General Election. The one UC campus that did
not have a polling place on Election Day was UC Riverside
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which served as an early polling site instead. When asked
why the other CSU campuses did not have polling places the
county elections officials responded as follows:
CSU Bakersfield : Only 324 students reside in on-campus
housing (only some of which are actually registered to
vote there) and there is inadequate parking for
off-campus voters.
CSU East Bay : Student voters use an off campus site that
is in a neighboring precinct which serves the campus.
CSU Los Angeles : Student voters use a precinct across the
street that serves the campus.
California Maritime Academy : The CMA is a very small
school and there are not enough students residing on
campus to warrant a polling place. A nearby off-campus
precinct location serves the campus.
CSU San Bernardino : The elections official indicates
that a polling place will be located on campus for future
elections.
San Jose State University : Logistically it is difficult
to put a polling place on campus because of parking and
ADA issues. A polling place directly across the street
from the SJSU dormitories serves the campus.
CSU Stanislaus : Only 633 students reside in on-campus
housing (only some of which are actually registered to
vote there) and there is inadequate parking for
off-campus voters.
Community Colleges . Of the 11 California Community
Colleges that have on-campus student housing, none house
enough students to require a polling place under this bill.
COMMENTS
1.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
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on campus do not have convenient access to the ballot
box. Although some campuses have been successful in
obtaining a polling place, others have not. This creates
unnecessary hurdles between students and the polls,
particularly for those studying far away from home.
Potentially thousands of new voters attend college in
California - 234,000 students attend classes at the
University of California, the California State University
system serves nearly 427,000 students, and the California
Community Colleges enroll over 2 million students per
year.
SB 267 would require counties to designate UC, CSU, and
community colleges that have over 1,000 students living
on campus and meet accessibility guidelines as their own
elections precinct. This would provide these campuses
with exclusive access to a polling place located
conveniently on campus. Additionally, students who vote
by mail and live in the same county as the campus could
drop off their ballots at the campus polling place.
This bill would not preclude campuses not meeting its
requirements from getting a polling place. Additionally,
this bill would not proscribe the number of polling
places needed within a precinct. Lastly, this bill would
allow counties to place polling places on campuses which
do not meet the requirements of this bill.
Present law does not guarantee convenient access to a
polling place for students living on a college or
university campus. In the November, 2012 election, UC
Riverside did not have an on-campus polling place (even
though it hosted as an early voting location.)
Meanwhile, seven CSUs, ranging from small to large, did
not have an on-campus polling place. Lastly, eleven
community colleges, which have long been thought of as
not having any residential students, are offering
on-campus housing. Even though these community colleges
have small on-campus student populations, convenient
access to the ballot box for these students should be
considered.
Even if a campus is currently able to get a polling place,
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that ability can change from one election to the next.
If it weren't for the efforts of its campus community,
San Francisco State University, one of the largest CSU
campuses, would have lost their on-campus polling place
just before the November 2012 election.
2.We Should Pay for What ? In light of the survey
information discussed in the Background section above, it
could be argued that almost every public college campus
in California either has or will have a polling place on
campus when needed and warranted. Furthermore, all six
existing elections-related mandates were suspended in the
2011-2012 Budget Bill. This begs the question of why the
Legislature should create a new reimbursable
state-mandated local program for something that is
already occurring especially since the Legislature has
voted to suspend the existing election mandates.
3.Only Registered Voters Matter . This bill requires
elections officials to establish precincts consisting
solely of, and locate corresponding polling places
within, each qualifying campus regardless of the number
of people who are actually registered to vote on the
campus. Many students are registered to vote at their
permanent residence (e.g., their parents' residence)
rather than their residences on or near their college
campus.
4.Hey, Where Did Everyone Go ? This bill requires elections
officials to locate a precinct and polling place on
public college campuses for each election conducted by a
county, including elections scheduled for times when most
students are not attending classes, such as June
Statewide Primary Elections.
5.Related Legislation . This bill is similar to SB 240
(Yee) which is currently pending in the Senate Education
Committee as a two-year bill and AB 346 (Atkins) of 2011
which failed passage in this committee.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
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Support: American Civil Liberties Union
California State Student Association
California State Conference of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Japanese American Citizens League
Oppose: None received
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