BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 477


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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB  
          477 (Mullin)


          As Amended  September 1, 2015


          Majority vote


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          |ASSEMBLY:  |50-29 |(May 14, 2015) |SENATE: |26-14 |(September 3,    |
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          |COMMITTEE VOTE: | 4-2 |(September 9,   |RECOMMENDATION:   |concur     |
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          (E. & R.)




          Original Committee Reference:  E. & R.


          SUMMARY:  Allows a voter who failed to sign his or her vote by  
          mail (VBM) identification envelope to complete and sign an  








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          unsigned ballot statement up to eight days after the election,  
          as specified, in order to have his or her ballot counted.   
          Specifically, this bill:  


          1)Prohibits an elections official, if he or she determines that  
            a voter has failed to sign the VBM identification envelope,  
            from rejecting 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 8th day after the election;
             b)   Before 5 p.m. on the 8th day after the election,  
               completes and submits an unsigned ballot statement, as  
               specified; or, 


             c)   Before the polls close on Election Day, completes and  
               submits an unsigned ballot statement to a polling place  
               within the county or ballot dropoff box.


          2)Requires an elections official, if timely submitted, to accept  
            any completed unsigned ballot statement.  Requires an  
            elections official, upon receipt of the unsigned ballot  
            statement, to compare the voter's signature on the statement  
            in the manner provided by current law.
          3)Permits an elections official to use methods other than those  
            described above to obtain a voter's signature on an unsigned  
            identification envelope.


          4)Requires instructions to accompany the unsigned ballot  
            statement, as specified. 


          5)Allows an elections official to compare the signature on a VBM  
            ballot identification envelope with a signature appearing on  
            any form issued by the elections official that contains the  
            voter's signature and that is part of the voter's registration  
            record, instead of providing that an elections official may  
            make a determination of whether the signature on a voter's VBM  








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            ballot identification envelope compares to the voter's  
            registration record by reviewing a series of signatures  
            appearing on official forms in the voter's registration record  
            that have been determined to compare, and that demonstrates  
            the progression of the voter's signature.


          





          The Senate amendments:


          1)Decrease the number of days that a voter has to complete and  
            sign an unsigned ballot statement from 10 days after the  
            election to eight days after the election.   


          2)Delete provisions of the bill that required the Secretary of  
            State (SOS) to include the unsigned ballot statement and  
            instructions on his or her Internet Web site, as specified.


          3)Establish procedures for the Green Party to participate in the  
            presidential primary, authorize the Green Party to establish  
            county councils by election, as specified, and establish a  
            Green Party state coordinating committee, as specified.  


          4)Add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems with  
            AB 1020 (Ridley-Thomas) of the current legislative session. 


          5)Make other technical and non-substantive changes.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee:









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          1)This bill would likely result in state reimbursable costs to  
            local elections officials, potentially exceeding $50,000  
            (General Fund).  


          2)Costs to the SOS would be minor and absorbable.


          COMMENTS:  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."


          The University of California 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% of  
          California's voters chose to cast their ballot via VBM.  This  
          totaled 6.6 million ballots.  However, approximately 1% 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 missing signature or a mismatching signature, were the  
          other top two reasons for VBM ballot rejection.  


          This bill prohibits an elections official, if a voter has failed  
          to sign the VBM identification envelope, from rejecting the VBM  
          ballot, as specified.  Additionally, this bill creates a new  
          process that permits a voter to either sign the identification  
          envelope of his or her VBM ballot at the elections official's  
          office or complete and submit an unsigned ballot statement  








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          before 5 p.m. on the 8th day after the election, as specified.   
          If the voter chooses to complete and submit an unsigned ballot  
          statement, this bill requires that the unsigned ballot statement  
          be mailed or delivered to the elections official's office before  
          5 p.m. on the 8th day after election day or, alternatively,  
          dropped off at a polling place or in a dropoff box within the  
          county the voter is registered before the polls close on  
          election day.


          The Senate amendments establish procedures for the Green Party  
          to participate in the presidential primary, authorize the Green  
          Party to establish county councils by election, as specified,  
          and establish a Green Party state coordinating committee, as  
          specified.  These amendments are similar provisions of law that  
          are already in place for the Democratic Party, the Republican  
          Party, the American Independent Party, and the Peace and Freedom  
          Party.  In addition, the amendments add double-jointing language  
          to avoid chaptering problems with AB 1020 and make other  
          non-substantive technical changes.


          Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion  
          of this bill. 


          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094  FN:  
          0002320