BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 477 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 477 (Mullin) As Amended September 1, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |50-29 |(May 14, 2015) |SENATE: |26-14 |(September 3, | | | | | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | | | | |COMMITTEE VOTE: | 4-2 |(September 9, |RECOMMENDATION: |concur | | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (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 AB 477 Page 2 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 AB 477 Page 3 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: AB 477 Page 4 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 AB 477 Page 5 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