BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 589 (Hill) - Vote by mail ballots.
Amended: April 1, 2013 Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: April 15, 2013
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 589 requires county election officials to offer
a free access system whereby vote-by-mail (VBM) voters can learn
whether their ballot was counted, authorizes elections officials
to compare signatures to previous affidavits on file, and also
authorizes the counties to elect not to mail sample ballots
under specified conditions.
Fiscal Impact:
Potentially minor costs to counties for providing
free-access system (General)
Potential savings to counties for printing and mailing
fewer sample ballots. (General)
Background: The number of VBM voters in California has
increased significantly over recent years. During the 2012
Statewide General Election, approximately 6.8 million (51%)
Californians cast their ballots by mail.
Existing law provides for all of the following:
- Outlines procedures for voting by mail and establishes
requirements for elections officials to compare the signature on
a vote by mail (VBM) ballot envelope with that appearing on the
affidavit of registration. If the ballot is rejected because
the signatures do not compare, the envelope is not opened and
the ballot is not counted. The cause of the rejection must be
written on the face of the identification envelope.
- Requires elections officials to establish procedures to track
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and confirm the receipt of VBM ballots and to make this
information available by means of online access using the
county's elections division Internet website. If the county
does not have an elections division Internet website, the
elections official must establish a toll-free telephone number
that may be used to confirm the date a voted VBM ballot was
received.
- Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a free
access system to allow any voter who casts a provisional ballot
to learn whether his or her provisional ballot was counted and,
if not, the reason why it was not counted.
- Provides that in order to facilitate the timely production and
distribution of sample ballots, the county elections official
may prepare a combined sample ballot, which also contains the
voter information guide (VIG).
The most common reasons why a VBM ballot is not counted is that
either the ballot arrives after the close of polls on elections
day, or that the signature on the identification envelope is
missing or does not match the signature on the voter's affidavit
of registration.
Proposed Law: Under existing law, the county elections
officials compare the signature on the identification envelope
of VBM ballots with the signature on the affidavit of
registration. SB 589 will allow the elections officials to also
use the signature on the voter's previous affidavit of
registration that is on file with the elections official, and to
use the signature on the VBM ballot applications.
SB 589 requires each county elections official to establish a
free access system that allows a vote by mail voter to learn
whether his or her ballot was counted and, if not, the reason
why the ballot was not counted. The free access system must be
available to voters for at least 30 days immediately following
the completion of the official canvass.
Existing law requires each county elections official to prepare,
print and mail a sample ballot to every registered voter at
least 29 days prior to an election. SB 589 will allow the
counties to elect not to mail a sample ballot to a voter if that
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voter is a permanent VBM voter, is in an all-mail ballot
election, or is in an all-mail ballot precinct. SB 589 also
provides that an election official does not have to mail a
sample ballot if the voter has already received a Voter
Information Guide which contained a sample ballot.
Related Legislation: This bill is similar to AB 293 (Hill) of
2011, AB 2616 (Hill) of 2010, AB 84 (Hill) of 2009, and AB 2964
(Levine) of 2008 - all of which were vetoed based on cost
concerns.
Staff Comments: During the 2012 Presidential Election,
approximately 59,000 of the 6.8 million VBM ballots were
rejected throughout the state. SB 589 allows any VBM voter to
contact his or her local elections official by using a free
access system (walk in, toll-free number, or online) and learn
if his or her ballot was counted, and if it was rejected the
voter can learn the reason for the rejection.