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