BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 477 Hearing Date: 7/7/15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Mullin |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |7/1/15 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Frances Tibon Estoista |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Elections: ballots, Green Party presidential primary
delegate procedures
DIGEST
This bill does the following:
Allows a voter who failed to sign his or her vote by
mail (VBM) identification envelope to sign a statement up
to 8 days after the election, as specified, in order to
have his or her ballot counted;
Establishes procedures for the Green Party to
participate in the presidential
primary, a process for establishing county councils; and,
Establishes a verification process for election
officials relating to provisional ballots.
ANALYSIS
Existing law as it relates to comparing of signatures on VBM
ballots:
1)Requires a county elections official, upon receiving a VBM
ballot, to compare the signatures on the identification
envelope with either of the following:
a) The signature appearing on any previous affidavit of
registration of the voter; or,
b) The signature appearing on a form issued by an
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 2
of ?
election official that contains the voter's signature,
that is part of the voter's registration record, and that
the election official has determined compares with the
signature on the voter's affidavit of registration or any
previous affidavit of registration of the voter.
2) Permits an elections official to make the determination of
whether a signature on a VBM ballot compares with the
signatures on file for that voter by reviewing a series of
signatures appearing on official forms in the voter's
registration record that have been determined to compare,
that demonstrate the progression of the voter's signature,
and makes evident that the signature on the identification
envelope is that of the voter.
3) Permits a county election official to use the duplicate file
of affidavits of registered voters or facsimiles of voters'
signatures when determining from the records of registration
if the signature and residence address compare.
4) Provides that if the ballot is rejected because the
signatures do not compare, the envelope shall not be opened
and the ballot shall not be counted. Requires the cause of
the rejection to be written on the face of the identification
envelope.
5) Authorizes an election official, in comparing signatures, to
use signature verification technology. Prohibits an election
official, if the signature verification technology determines
the signatures does not compare, from rejecting the ballot
unless he or she visually examines the signatures and
verifies that the signatures do not compare.
6) Allows VBM ballots to be counted if they are cast by Election
Day and received by the elections official by mail no later
than three days after the election, as specified.
This bill :
1) Provides that an elections official may validate the
signature on the identification envelope with the signature
appearing on any form issued by an elections official that
contains the voter's signature that is part of the voter's
registration record instead of having to compare the
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 3
of ?
signature to a series of signatures that demonstrates the
progression of the voter's signature.
2) Requires if an elections official determines that a voter
has failed to sign the identification envelope, the elections
official shall not reject the VBM ballot if the voter does
any of the following:
a) Signs the identification envelope at the office of the
elections official during regular business hours before 5
p.m. on the eighth day after the election.
b) Before 5 p.m. on the eighth day after the election,
completes and submits an "unsigned ballot statement" in
substantially the following form (and signed under penalty
of perjury):
"UNSIGNED BALLOT STATEMENT
I,, am a registered voter of __________ County,
State of California. I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I
requested and returned a vote by mail ballot and that I
have not and will not vote more than one ballot in this
election. I understand that if I commit or attempt any
fraud in connection with voting, or if I aid or abet fraud
or attempt to aid or abet fraud in connection with voting,
I may be convicted of a felony punishable by imprisonment
for 16 months or two or three years. I understand that my
failure to sign this statement means that my vote by mail
ballot will be invalidated.
Voter's Signature_________________
Address"________________________
c) Before the close of the polls on election day, completes
and submits an unsigned ballot statement, in the form
described in clause b), to a polling place within the
county or a ballot dropoff box.
1) If timely submitted, the elections official shall accept any
completed unsigned ballot statement. Upon receipt of the
unsigned ballot statement, the elections official shall
compare the voter's signature on the statement in the manner
provided.
If the elections official determines that the signatures
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 4
of ?
compare, he or she shall attach the unsigned ballot
statement to the identification envelope and deposit the
ballot, still in the identification envelope, in a ballot
container in his or her office.
If the elections official determines that the signatures
do not compare, the identification envelope shall not be
opened and the ballot shall not be counted.
1) An elections official may use methods other than those
described above to obtain a voter's signature on an unsigned
identification envelope.
a) Instructions shall accompany the unsigned ballot
statement in substantially the following form:
"READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE COMPLETING THE
STATEMENT. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS MAY CAUSE
YOUR BALLOT NOT TO COUNT.
1. In order to ensure that your vote by mail ballot
will be counted, your statement should be completed and
returned as soon as possible so that it can reach the
elections official of the county in which your precinct
is located no later than 5 p.m. on the eighth day after
the election.
2. You must sign your name on the line above (Voter's
Signature).
3. Place the statement into a mailing envelope
addressed to your local elections official. Mail,
deliver, or have delivered the completed statement to the
elections official. Be sure there is sufficient postage
if mailed and that the address of the elections official
is correct.
4. Alternatively, you may submit your completed
statement by facsimile transmission to your local
elections official, or submit your completed statement to
a polling place within the county or a ballot dropoff box
before the close of the polls on election day.
1) Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to include the
unsigned ballot statement and instructions described above on
his or her Internet Web site, and provide a list of mailing
addresses and facsimile transmission numbers of all elections
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 5
of ?
officials, or provide conspicuous hyperlinks to that
information, on the Internet Web page containing the
statement and instructions.
2) Requires an elections official to include the unsigned
ballot statement and instructions described above on his or
her Internet Web site, and provide the elections official's
mailing address and facsimile transmission number on the
Internet Web page containing the statement and instructions.
3) Provides that a ballot shall not be removed from its
identification envelope until the time for processing
ballots. And further provides a ballot shall not be rejected
for cause after the identification envelope has been opened.
Existing law generally provides for specific procedures by which
the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the American
Independent Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party participate
in the presidential primary; authorizes the Democratic Party,
the Republican Party, the American Independent Party and the
Peace and Freedom Party to each elect county central committees,
and also establish state central committees.
This bill :
1) Establishes the procedures by which the Green Party would
participate in the presidential primary.
2) Authorizes the Green Party to establish county councils by
election.
3) Establishes a Green Party state coordinating committee.
Existing law as it relates to provisional voting and ballot
processing:
At all elections, a voter claiming to be properly registered,
but whose qualification or entitlement to vote cannot be
immediately established upon examination of the index of
registration for the precinct or upon examination of the records
on file with the county elections official, shall be entitled to
vote a provisional ballot as follows:
a) An elections official shall advise the voter of the
voter's right to cast a provisional ballot.
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 6
of ?
b) The voter shall be provided a provisional ballot,
written instructions regarding the process and procedures
for casting the provisional ballot, and a written
affirmation regarding the voter's registration and
eligibility to vote.
c) The voter shall be required to execute, in the presence
of an elections official, the written affirmation stating
that the voter is eligible to vote and registered in the
county where the voter desires to vote.
Existing law further provides:
Once voted, the voter's ballot shall be sealed in a
provisional ballot envelope, and the ballot in its envelope
shall be deposited in the ballot box. All provisional
ballots voted shall remain sealed in their envelopes for
return to the elections official in accordance with the
elections official's instructions. The provisional ballot
shall be a color different than the color of, but printed
substantially similar to, the envelopes used for VBM ballots,
and shall be completed in the same manner as VBM envelopes.
During the official canvass, the elections official shall
examine the records with respect to all provisional ballots
cast. Using the procedures that apply to the comparison of
signatures on vote by mail ballots pursuant to existing law,
the elections official shall compare the signature on each
provisional ballot envelope with the signature on the voter's
affidavit of registration or other signature in the voter's
registration record. If the signatures do not compare or the
provisional ballot envelope is not signed, the ballot shall
be rejected. A variation of the signature caused by the
substitution of initials for the first or middle name, or
both, shall not invalidate the ballot.
Existing law requires provisional ballots not be included in any
semiofficial or official canvass, except upon: (A) the
elections official's establishing prior to the completion of the
official canvass, from the records in his or her office, the
claimant's right to vote; or (B) the order of a superior court
in the county of the voter's residence. A voter may seek the
court order specified in this paragraph regarding his or her own
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 7
of ?
ballot at any time prior to completion of the official canvass.
Any judicial action or appeal shall have priority over all other
civil matters. A fee shall not be charged to the claimant by
the clerk of the court for services rendered in an action under
this section.
Existing law provides the provisional ballot of a voter who is
otherwise entitled to vote shall not be rejected because the
voter did not cast his or her ballot in the precinct to which he
or she was assigned by the elections official.
Existing law provides if the ballot cast by the voter contains
the same candidates and measures on which the voter would have
been entitled to vote in his or her assigned precinct, the
elections official shall count the votes for the entire ballot.
If the ballot cast by the voter contains candidates or measures
on which the voter would not have been entitled to vote in his
or her assigned precinct, the elections official shall count
only the votes for the candidates and measures on which the
voter was entitled to vote in his or her assigned precinct.
Existing law requires the SOS to establish a free access system
that any voter who casts a provisional ballot may access to
discover whether the voter's provisional ballot was counted and,
if not, the reason why it was not counted. Allows the SOS to
adopt appropriate regulations. Provides that any existing
supply of envelopes marked "special challenged ballot" may be
used until the supply is exhausted.
This bill :
1) Requires, during the official canvass, the elections
official to also compare the residence address provided by
the voter on the provisional ballot envelope with the most
current residence address on file. If the signatures compare
after an examination, as specified, and the residence address
provided matches the most current residence address on file,
the ballot shall be counted. Except as provided existing
law, if the residence address provided on the provisional
envelope does not match the most current residence address on
file, the elections official shall review the provisional
voter's registration record to attempt to verify the voter's
registration and current residence address.
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 8
of ?
2) Requires that if the voter provides an in-county residence
address different from the residence address in the official
record, the elections official shall duplicate or move the
ballot to the precinct of the new address on the provisional
ballot envelope and count only the races the voter is
entitled to vote on. The voter shall be reregistered at the
residence address provided on the provisional ballot envelope
for future elections.
3) If the voter provides a post office box or business address
on the line of the provisional ballot envelope requesting the
voter's current residence address and, during the official
canvass, the elections official independently verifies the
voter's residence address and the residence address is within
the county where the provisional ballot was cast, the ballot
shall be counted. If the ballot is counted, the elections
official shall count only the races the voter is entitled to
vote on, based on the voter's independently verified
residence address and does not require an elections official
to attempt to independently verify a voter's residence
address during the official canvass.
4) Provides if the elections official's review is not
conclusive or the voter provides an out-of-county address,
the ballot shall be rejected.
5) Makes other technical and corresponding changes.
BACKGROUND
Vote By Mail Ballot Rejection : The UC Davis California Civic
Engagement Project conducted a statewide survey of California's
58 county election offices to gain a better understanding of
California's use of VBM ballots, including return methods.
According to their September 2014 brief, entitled "California's
Uncounted VBM Ballots: Identifying Variation in County
Processing," in 2012, for the first time in a statewide general
election, over 50 percent of California's voters chose to cast
their ballot via VBM. This totaled 6.6 million ballots.
However, approximately one percent of those VBM ballots received
by the elections official were rejected during ballot
processing. That amounts to approximately 69,000 ballots.
According to the survey, late receipt was the most common reason
why a VBM ballot was uncounted. Signature issues, such as a
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 9
of ?
missing signature or a mismatching signature, were the other top
two reasons for VBM ballot rejection.
In an effort to remedy the significant VBM ballot rejection
rate, last session the Legislature approved and Governor Brown
signed SB 29 (Correa), Chapter 618, Statutes of 2014, which
allowed VBM ballots to be counted if they are cast by election
day and received by the elections official by mail no later than
three days after the election, as specified. The signing and
implementation of SB 29 (Correa), was ground breaking as it
represented the first time that California state law explicitly
has allowed any ballot which was received after election day to
be counted.
Current Procedures for Processing Unsigned VBM Ballots :
Existing law does not require county elections officials to
contact a voter and inform them that his or her ballot was not
counted. However, in practice, when it comes to VBM ballots
being rejected due to missing signatures, county elections
officials attempt to contact the voter prior to election day in
order to provide them the opportunity to correct their ballot.
According to the UC Davis California Civic Engagement Project
survey referenced above, nearly all counties utilize multiple
methods to contact a voter, such as contacting the voter by
phone, email, or mailing the VBM ballot back. However, because
current law does not require a voter to provide a phone number
or email when an individual registers to vote or requests a VBM
ballot, efforts to contact a voter remain a challenge as a
voter's phone number and email may not be updated or available.
COMMENTS
1) According to the author , AB 477 will reduce the number of
legitimate vote-by-mail ballots that are rejected, ensuring
that fewer voters are disenfranchised. California has one of
the highest ballot rejection rates in the country, which is
especially disconcerting because vote-by-mail ballot use has
increased rapidly in recent years, with 60 percent of voters
casting their ballots by mail in last November's general
election. With such high usage rates, it is imperative the
state do everything possible to minimize the number of
discarded legitimate ballots.
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 10
of ?
69,000 ballots were rejected in the 2012 general election.
About one-quarter of vote-by-mail ballots were thrown out
because the signature on the ballot envelope did not match
the signature on record. With the advent of online voter
registration, many voters' signatures are pulled from their
Department of Motor Vehicles file. In many cases, this
signature is out of date or the voter was unable to sign
clearly because they used an electronic signature pad. AB
477 would reduce the number of ballots thrown out because of
mismatching signatures by allowing elections officials to use
other signatures in a voter's registration record to verify
vote-by-mail envelopes.
In addition, about 17 percent of ballots are not counted
because the voter failed to sign his or her ballot envelope
altogether. To remedy this, AB 477 allows elections
officials to collect a voter's signature on a separate form,
signed under penalty of perjury. This policy has been
successfully implemented in both Florida and Colorado.
Lastly, the bill also incorporates another successful
Colorado law by allowing elections officials to collect
signatures on unsigned ballots after Election Day.
2) Chula Vista Dispute . In the November 2014 General Election
for a Chula Vista City Council race, the winning candidate
won by a narrow margin of two votes. A legal challenge by
the opponent was filed contending the Registrar of Voters
incorrectly rejected 10 provisional ballots declared
ineligible during review. Specifically at issue is how some
provisional ballots are handled. In the Chula Vista race, it
came down to 10 provisional ballots that the ROV declared
ineligible because voters wrote down an address that was not
their residence address; four wrote down a P.O. Box, three
listed a business address, and three wrote down what was
deemed to be a non-existent address.
Although the superior court judge ruled that the San Diego
Registrar of Voters did not err when he left uncounted the
ballots in question, what the case did highlight was the
possibility that counties around the state do not validate
provisional ballots in a consistent manner.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 11
of ?
AB 1135 (Chapter 271, Statutes of 2013, Mullin) is similar to
the provision on signature comparison on VBM's as it allows
elections officials to use other documents to verify a voter's
signature, as long as the signatures show a progression over
time.
AB 2530 (Chapter 906, Statutes of 2014, Rodriguez) requires if
signature software was used to verify a VBM, mail ballot
precinct ballot or provisional ballot, then any rejected
signatures must be visually examined to verify that the
signatures do not compare. AB 477 amends a portion of that
provision of existing law.
PRIOR ACTION
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Assembly Floor: |50 - 29 |
|--------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |12 - 5 |
|--------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|Assembly Elections and Redistricting | 4 - 2 |
|Committee: | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Secretary of State Alex Padilla
California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
California Common Cause
California Voter Foundation
Green Party of California
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
League of Women Voters of California
Oppose: None received
-- END --
AB 477 (Mullin) Page 12
of ?