BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 547
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
547 (Gonzalez)
As Amended May 14, 2015
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |4-3 |Ridley-Thomas, |Grove, Travis |
| | |Gordon, Mullin, |Allen, Gatto |
| | |Perea | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Expands a previously authorized mailed ballot election
pilot project in San Diego County to allow certain local elections
held in San Diego County to be conducted pursuant to the
provisions of that project. Extends the pilot project by one
year. Specifically, this bill makes the following modifications
to a previously authorized pilot project under which San Diego
County is permitted to conduct a special election to fill a
vacancy in the Legislature or in Congress as a mailed ballot
election, subject to certain conditions:
1)Expands the pilot project to allow a special election to be
conducted as an all-mailed ballot election if the election is to
AB 547
Page 2
fill a vacancy in a governing body or to vote on a local ballot
measure, and is for San Diego County, or any city, school
district, community college district, special district, or other
district or political subdivision whose boundaries are located
wholly within San Diego County (hereinafter referred to as an
"eligible entity");
2)Requires the governing body of an eligible entity that seeks to
conduct an election pursuant to the pilot project to authorize
the use of mailed ballots for the election;
3)Clarifies that at elections conducted under the pilot project,
the elections official is required to ensure that a polling
place is staffed by precinct board members who speak languages
other than English if federal law requires the elections
official to recruit precinct board members who are fluent in
those languages for precincts that are consolidated at that
polling place;
4)Requires bilingual voter education workshops and voter education
workshops designed to increase accessibility for participation
of voters with disabilities that are required to be conducted
under the pilot project to be conducted in-person;
5)Makes the eligible entity for which the election is being
conducted responsible for complying with the requirements of the
pilot project, including the reporting requirement; and,
6)Extends the date of the pilot project by one year, to January 1,
2021.
EXISTING LAW:
AB 547
Page 3
1)Permits a special election in San Diego County, held before
January 1, 2020, to fill a vacancy in the Legislature or in
Congress, to be conducted by mailed ballot subject to all of the
following conditions:
a) The legislative or congressional district lies wholly
within San Diego County;
b) The election does not occur on the same date as a
statewide primary or general election, or any other election
conducted in an overlapping jurisdiction that is not
consolidated and conducted wholly by mail;
c) At least one ballot drop-off location is provided per
city, and at least one drop-off location is provided in
unincorporated areas for every 100,000 registered voters, and
such locations are open during business hours to receive
voted ballots beginning not less than seven days before the
election;
d) The elections official provides for at least six hours of
voting at a satellite location within the congressional or
legislative district on at least one Saturday and Sunday
after the ballots are delivered to voters;
e) At least one polling place is provided per city or the
polling places are fixed in a manner so that there is one
polling place for every 10,000 registered voters within the
district, as specified, whichever results in more polling
places. Provides that a polling place shall allow voters to
request a ballot between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the day of the
election if they need replacement ballots for any reason;
f) Polling places are established in accordance with existing
state and federal accessibility requirements, and access to
polling places is evenly distributed throughout the
AB 547
Page 4
congressional or legislative district;
g) For polling places that consolidate one or more precincts
for which the elections official is required to recruit
precinct board members who are fluent in a language in
addition to English pursuant to existing state or federal
law, the elections official makes reasonable efforts to
ensure that the polling place is staffed by precinct board
members who speak those languages;
h) Each voter receives all supplies necessary for the use and
return of the mail ballot, including a return envelope for
the voted ballot with postage prepaid;
i) Each voter receives all of the following from the
elections official:
i) A notice, translated into all languages as required by
state and federal law, that informs voters of the
following:
(1) That the election is being conducted by mail and
that each eligible voter will receive a ballot by mail;
(2) The voter may cast a ballot in person at a
satellite location; and,
(3) The voter may request the county elections
official to send a ballot in a language other than
English pursuant to state and federal law.
ii) A list of the ballot drop-off and polling place
locations, and that list is posted on the Internet Web site
of the county elections office; and,
iii) A postage-paid postcard that the voter may return to
AB 547
Page 5
the elections official for the purpose of requesting a
ballot in a language other than English.
2)Requires San Diego County, if it conducts an election by mailed
ballot pursuant to the provisions outlined above, to report to
the Legislature and to the Secretary of State regarding the
success of the election, including, but not limited to, any
statistics on the cost to conduct the election; the turnout of
different populations, including, but not limited to and to the
extent possible, the population categories of race, ethnicity,
language preference, age, gender, disability, permanent vote by
mail status, and political party affiliation as it relates to
the languages required under the federal Voting Rights Act; the
number of ballots that were not counted and the reasons they
were rejected; voter fraud; and any other problems that became
known to the county during the election or canvass. Requires
the report, whenever possible, to compare the election conducted
under the pilot project to similar elections not conducted as
mailed ballot elections in the same jurisdiction or comparable
jurisdictions.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "AB 547 would strive to
increase voter turnout and cut costs in San Diego County's special
elections by extending to other political subdivisions in the
county the option to conduct all-mailed ballot special elections
under the AB 1873 pilot program to cities, counties, school
districts, special districts and local ballot initiatives."
Last year, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed AB
1873 (Gonzalez), Chapter 598, Statutes of 2014, which allows
special elections in San Diego County to fill vacancies in the
Legislature and Congress to be conducted by mailed ballot until
2020, subject to certain conditions. This bill modifies some of
those conditions, and significantly expands the types of elections
AB 547
Page 6
that are allowed to be conducted as mailed ballot elections
pursuant to the pilot project.
When the Legislature considered AB 1873 last year, early versions
of this bill would have expanded the circumstances under which
local elections could be conducted as all-mailed ballot elections.
However, AB 1873 was narrowed, and ultimately authorized a pilot
project in San Diego County regarding the use of all-mailed ballot
elections for legislative and congressional vacancy elections.
The chaptered version of AB 1873 did not allow local elections to
be conducted as mailed ballot elections as part of that pilot
project. This bill would allow local special elections to be
conducted as mailed ballot elections pursuant to the pilot
project.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0000416