BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 363
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
AB 363
(Steinorth) - As Amended May 6, 2015
SUBJECT: Closing of the polls.
SUMMARY: Authorizes county elections officials, on election
day, to begin accounting and processing polling place ballots
during the day, instead of waiting until the closing of the
polls, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes a precinct board, when accounting for ballots at
the closing of the polls, as specified, to either account for
the ballots at a polling place or to be performed by the
elections official at a central counting place, instead of
only allowing a precinct board to account for ballots at a
polling place.
2)Permits a county elections official, before the closing of the
polls instead of at the close of the polls, to direct a
precinct board to seal the ballot container and record on
forms prescribed by the elections official the information
needed for the reconciliation of ballots, as specified.
3)Allows a county elections official to direct a precinct board
to seal the ballot container prior to the closing of the polls
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in accordance with existing law. Permits a county elections
official, as soon as the container is sealed, to direct at
least two elections officials to remove the sealed ballot
container of voted untallied ballots from the polling place
and, in the presence of any bystanders, to deliver the
container to a receiving center or central counting place as
directed. Allows a county elections official, upon receipt of
a container at a receiving center or central counting place,
to process the voted untallied ballots. Prohibits the tally
of ballots or release of any results prior to the closing of
the polls. Provides that the procedures described shall not
be construed as relieving a precinct board of its
responsibility to account for ballots in accordance with
existing law.
4)Makes other technical changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires members of a precinct board to account for ballots
delivered to them by returning a sufficient number of unused
ballots to make up, when added to the number of official
ballots cast and the number of spoiled and canceled ballots
returned, the number of ballots given to them.
2)Requires members of a precinct board, as soon as the polls are
closed, to remove the voted ballots from the ballot container
and take them out of the secrecy envelopes or detach them from
the secrecy stubs. Requires the precinct board to count the
number of ballot cards in each group, and certify the number
of ballots cast on the voting roster, as specified. Requires
the precinct board, if there is any discrepancy between the
number of voters listed in the roster and the number of
ballots voted, to note this fact with an explanation of the
difference signed by all the members of the precinct board.
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3)Requires precinct board members to group voted ballot cards
and voted separate write-in ballots, as directed by the
elections official, and place them in containers. Requires
the board to place spoiled and void ballots, if any, in
containers as directed by the elections official. Requires
all the containers to be placed in one or more boxes and
sealed and delivered as soon as possible to the receiving
centers or central counting places with the unused ballots,
supplies, and other materials as directed by the elections
officials.
4)Prohibits the removal of a ballot container from a polling
place or the presence of any persons assembled at the polling
place until all the ballots are counted and prohibits the
ballot container from being opened until after the polls are
closed.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
AB 363 will improve election efficiency by allowing for
ballots to be picked up from Election Day polling places
and processed at a central counting location before the
polls are closed. In doing so, election results will be
reported much sooner on election night, and counties will
save taxpayer dollars by reducing overtime costs. Further,
this bill will give election officials the option to modify
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current ballot reconciliation procedures in an attempt to
make them more effective and secure.
Existing law allows for absentee ballots which have been
dropped off at polling places to be transported prior to
the close of polls, but inconsistently, the law does not
allow for early pick-up of ballots which had been cast at
the polling place. Allowing for early pick-up of all
ballots will make a critical difference in geographically
expansive counties, within which it may take hours to
transport ballots from a remote polling location to the
counting location.
AB 363's improved ballot reconciliation process will make
results more accurate and secure, because reconciliation
will take place in a controlled environment, under the
supervision of election professionals. If a discrepancy is
found by the elections official, he/she has the authority
to investigate further, as opposed to poll workers who have
no authority to act upon any inconsistencies. Voters may
feel more secure in knowing that their voted ballot cannot
be tampered with, because the ballot box will be sealed and
quickly moved to the counting location, rather than counted
and handled by poll workers at the polling place.
This practice exists in many other counties in the United
States and has proven to be highly effective and secure.
2)Closing of the Polls Procedures: Existing law establishes
procedures for processing ballots following the closing of the
polls on election day. Specifically, once the polls close,
current law requires members of the precinct board to account
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for ballots delivered to them whether voted, unused, spoiled,
or canceled. This process is commonly known as ballot
reconciliation. Existing law prohibits a ballot container
from being opened until after the polls are closed and further
prohibits the removal of a ballot container from a polling
place until all ballots are counted. Once reconciliation is
completed ballot containers are allowed to be delivered to
their assigned receiving center or central counting location
for processing.
This bill creates and authorizes county elections officials to
utilize an additional reconciliation procedure. First, this
bill permits the ballot reconciliation process to begin before
the polls close, instead of after the polls close. Second,
this bill allows ballot containers to be transported to a
receiving center or central counting place for ballot
reconciliation and processing before the polls close. These
are significant departures from current practice which
prohibits the removal of a ballot container from a polling
place until all ballots are counted and further prohibits a
ballot container from being opened until after the polls are
closed. According to the author and the proponents of this
bill, this new procedure is a much needed option for county
elections officials, especially those counties that are
geographically expansive. Proponents contend that the new
ballot reconciliation process outlined in this bill will
expedite ballot processing by allowing ballots to be processed
and transported to counting locations prior to the closing of
the polls as well as provide for more timely results, reduce
election administrative costs, and increase overall election
efficiency.
3)Security Concerns: As mentioned above, current law only
allows ballot reconciliation to begin once the polls close.
This bill instead permits ballot reconciliation to begin
before the polls close and allows county elections officials
to collect and transport voted ballots to receiving centers or
central counting locations multiple times on election day.
This bill, however, does not place any limitations on how many
times throughout election day ballot containers may be
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transported. As a result, ballots may be transported multiple
times and ballot reconciliation will need to occur each time.
Because this bill does not place any limitations on how many
times ballot containers may be transported, the ability to
identify and correct any error during ballot reconciliation
may be challenging.
Moreover, this bill does not contain any security measures to
ensure the secure delivery and transfer of the ballots to the
receiving center or central counting place. If an elections
official chooses to utilize the option to transport ballot
containers before the polls close, the bill only requires that
there are at least two elections officials to remove the
sealed ballot containers of voted ballots from the polling
place, and in the presence of any bystanders, deliver the
container to a receiving center or central counting place.
The bill does not contain any security requirements beyond
those provisions.
While an argument can be made that placing a limitation on the
number of times ballots may be transported in statute may be
too prescriptive, the lack of security requirements is still
concerning. The committee may wish to consider whether the
lack of security measures may lead to mishandling of voted
ballots. Furthermore, the author and the committee may wish
to consider whether the bill should be amended to require the
Secretary of State (SOS) to adopt regulations to ensure ballot
containers are securely transported.
4)Greater Transparency? Many counties, especially large
counties, encounter late reconciliation issues partly due to
the size of the county which requires elections staff to be on
the road for hours driving to remote polling places to pick up
ballot containers and then delivering them back to a central
processing location. Due to their large geographical size,
these large counties are unable to report election night
reports until late into the morning of the day after election
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day. Moreover, while current law requires the reconciliation
process to be open to the public, in practice, once the polls
close many individuals are not around to monitor and ensure
ballot reconciliation is done properly. This bill, which
permits the reconciliation of ballots to be accomplished at a
central counting location, may provide more transparency by
making it easier for the public to ensure ballots are properly
being handled as the ballots will be reconciled, processed,
scanned, and tabulated at the same place at certain times
throughout the election day.
As mentioned above, this bill permits ballot reconciliation to
begin before the polls close and allows county elections
officials to collect and transport voted ballots to receiving
centers or central counting locations multiple times on
election day. However, this bill, does not prescribe when the
new reconciliation process will occur nor does the bill
contain any public notice requirements to ensure the public is
made aware of when and where the reconciliation process will
occur during election day. The committee may wish to amend
the bill to require the elections official to provide a public
announcement to ensure the public is made aware of when and
where ballots are being processed.
5)Logistics: This bill permits ballot reconciliation to begin
before the polls close and allows county elections officials
to collect and transport ballot containers to receiving
centers or central counting locations multiple times on
election day. What happens once a ballot container is removed
from a polling place? Is it replaced with a new ballot
container? Will polling places be required to have more
ballot containers now that this bill allows for a ballot
container to be removed during election day? The committee
may wish to amend the bill to resolve this issue.
6)Related Legislation: SB 417 (Stone), authorizes the precinct
board of a county with a geographic area of at least 2500
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square miles to remove the ballot container or containers from
the polling place while the polls remain open only to
facilitate the early delivery of ballots to the receiving
centers or central counting places. SB 417 also requires the
SOS to adopt regulations for the secure delivery and transfer
of the ballots to the receiving center or central counting
place. SB 417 is pending on the Senate Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
7)Arguments in Support: In support, the California Association
of Clerks and Election Officials, writes:
Many large counties' final election night reports are late
into the morning of the day after the election due to
technological, logistical, and geographic limitations.
This bill does not require election officials without such
challenges to change any current procedures.
The bill permits the sealing and delivery of ballot
containers to a central location where the containers will
be opened and the ballots will be processed. The complex
and time consuming reconciliation of the ballots cast would
be performed centrally with greater accuracy. This would
have the dual effect of speeding up the return of ballots
on Election Night as well as reducing the time required to
complete the count and produce a final unofficial report of
results. A further benefit would be a reduction in labor
and overtime costs.
We appreciate your recognition of the challenges faced by
large counties that count ballots centrally. This bill
represents a viable solution for many until new voting
technology, without these constraints and limitations, is
authorized and fielded in the state.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
County of San Bernardino (sponsor)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California State Association of Counties
Rural County Representatives of California
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Urban Counties Caucus
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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