BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 363 (Steinorth) - Closing of the polls
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|Version: August 17, 2015 |Policy Vote: E. & C.A. 4 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 363 would authorize county elections officials, on
Election Day, to begin accounting and processing polling place
ballots during the day, by delivery to a receiving center or
central counting place, instead of waiting until the closing of
the polls, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact: The Secretary of State's Office (SOS) indicates that it
would incur a one-time General Fund cost of $55,000 to
promulgate regulations resulting from the bill.
Background: Once the polls close, current law requires members of the
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precinct board to account for ballots delivered to them, a
process is commonly known as ballot reconciliation. Existing
law prohibits (1) a ballot container from being opened until
after the polls are closed, and (2) 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.
Proposed Law:
This bill would, among other things, do all of the following:
Authorize a precinct board, when accounting for ballots
to either (1) account for them at a polling place, or (2)
have the accounting be done by the elections official at a
central counting place.
Permit a county elections official, before or 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.
Permit a county elections official (1) to direct a
precinct board to seal the ballot container prior to the
closing of the polls in accordance with existing law, and
(2) 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, as specified.
Require the elections officials to notify the public 48
hours before Election Day of the dates, times and places
where ballot containers will be delivered.
Allow a county elections official, upon receipt of a
container at a receiving center or central counting place,
to process the voted untallied ballots, but prohibit the
tally of ballots or release of any results prior to the
closing of the polls.
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Require SOS to adopt regulations addressing the secure
delivery and transfer of ballots to a receiving center or
central counting place.
Staff
Comments: As noted above, this bill would (1) permit the ballot
reconciliation process to begin before the polls close, and (2)
allow ballot containers to be transported to a receiving center
or central counting place for ballot reconciliation and
processing before the polls close. For counties with larger land
area, this proposal would likely provide for more timely
election results and increase overall efficiency.
SOS would incur a cost of $55,000 to adopt regulations
addressing the secure delivery and transfer of ballots pursuant
to the bill's proposal.
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