BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 554
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
AB
554 (Mullin) - As Introduced February 23, 2015
SUBJECT: Elections: precinct board members.
SUMMARY: Authorizes an elections official to appoint a pupil,
who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States (U.S.),
to serve as a precinct board member. Specifically, this bill
provides that a pupil who is a legal permanent resident may be
appointed to serve as a precinct board member if the pupil
otherwise possesses the qualifications required for a pupil to
serve as a precinct board member.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides that in order to provide for greater awareness of the
election process, the rights and responsibilities of voters,
and the importance of participating in the electoral process,
as well as to provide additional members of precinct boards,
an elections official may appoint no more than five pupils per
precinct to serve under the direct supervision of precinct
board members designated by the elections official. Prohibits
a pupil appointed to serve as a precinct board member from
tallying votes. Provides that a pupil may be appointed,
notwithstanding his or her lack of eligibility to vote,
subject to the approval of the governing board of the
educational institution in which the pupil is enrolled, if the
pupil possesses the following qualifications:
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a) Is at least 16 years of age at the time of the election
for which he or she is serving as a member of the precinct
board;
b) Is a U.S. citizen or will be a citizen at the time of
the election for which he or she is serving as a member of
the precinct board;
c) Is a pupil in good standing attending a public or
private secondary educational institution; and,
d) Is a pupil who has a grade point average of at least 2.5
on a 4.0 scale.
1)Requires elections officials to make reasonable efforts to
recruit elections officials who are fluent in a language if
three percent or more of the voting age residents in any
precinct are fluent in that language and lack sufficient skill
in English to vote without assistance. Requires the elections
official, at least 14 days before an election, to prepare a
publicly accessible list of the precincts to which bilingual
officials were appointed in order to provide language
assistance to those voters lacking sufficient skills in
English.
2)Requires each precinct board to post, in a conspicuous
location within the polling place, at least one copy of the
ballot with ballot measures and ballot instructions printed in
Spanish in counties where the Secretary of State (SOS) has
determined it is appropriate. Requires the ballot to be
posted in other languages if a significant and substantial
need is found by the SOS.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative
Counsel.
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
In 2013 the Legislature passed AB 817 (Bonta), which was signed
into law by Governor Brown, to allow legal permanent residents
to serve as poll workers in California. The bill did not,
however, similarly amend the section of law that allows high
school students who are at least 16 years of age to serve as
poll workers. AB 554 fixes this oversight by allowing high
school students who are legal permanent residents to serve as
poll workers in California elections.
This change is critical because elections officials have
experienced a shortage of poll workers who can speak languages
other than English. With over 2.6 million eligible voters in
California who are not yet fully proficient in English, this
poses a problem for elections officials who are charged with
ensuring all voters have access to the polls. By further
expanding the pool of bilingual poll workers to include high
school students who are legal permanent residents, AB 554 helps
address this issue.
Additionally, the bill provides an educational opportunity for
high school-aged legal permanent residents who want to learn
about the United States' democratic process, a privilege that
already exists for legal permanent residents who are over 18.
This opportunity is especially relevant for high school
students, as they are already learning about government in
civics classes. AB 554 would provide high school-aged legal
permanent residents the opportunity to experience American
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democracy firsthand, potentially inspiring them to become
naturalized voting citizens in the future.
2)Student Precinct Board Members: Under existing law a high
school student may serve as a precinct board member, despite
his or her lack of eligibility to vote, as long as the student
is 16 years of age at the time of the election, a U.S. citizen
at the time of the election and is enrolled and attending
school with a grade point average of at least 2.5. County
elections officials are permitted to recruit up to five
student poll workers for each precinct.
In 2013 the Legislature passed AB 817 (Bonta), Chapter 162,
Statutes of 2013, which authorizes elections officials to
recruit and appoint someone who is a legal permanent resident,
and otherwise eligible to register to vote except for his or
her lack of U.S. citizenship, to serve as a precinct board
member.
This bill seeks to provide for additional precinct board
members who are bilingual by allowing elections officials to
appoint students who are legal permanent residents to serve as
precinct board members.
3)Standard for Bilingual Precinct Workers: Existing law requires
an election official to make reasonable efforts to recruit
precinct workers who are fluent in a language where three
percent or more of the voting age residents in the precinct
are fluent in that language and lack sufficient skill in
English to vote without assistance. Existing law additionally
requires each precinct board to post a copy of the ballot in a
language other than English at the polling place if the SOS
determines that the number of residents of voting age in the
precinct who are members of a single language minority and who
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lack sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance
equals three percent or more of the voting age residents in
the precinct.
4)Language Assistance: Under the federal Voting Rights Act, a
jurisdiction must provide language assistance when an
elections official finds that at least five percent of the
total voting age citizens are of a single language group or
number at least 10,000 and the rate of English illiteracy is
above the national average. Assistance includes the
translation of written materials, oral assistance at poll
sites and the mailing of a translated sample ballot and
statewide voter guide upon request of the voter.
Under California statute, a county must provide language
assistance in election precincts where the SOS determines a
need exists. This is determined when the number of limited
English speaking, voting-age residents from a group reaches
three percent of the total voting-age residents in a precinct.
State provisions require the elections officials to translate
the ballot and related instructions and to post the translated
materials at those precincts. Elections officials are also
required to make reasonable efforts to recruit bilingual poll
workers.
5)Argument in Support: In support of the bill, Asian Americans
Advancing Justice - Sacramento writes:
Many voters in California are not yet fully proficient in
English and encounter difficulty participating in the electoral
process without language assistance. Over 2.6 million eligible
voters are limited English proficient (LEP), including over 47%
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of eligible voters who are naturalized citizens. To address
this, the Federal Voting Rights Act and state law require
jurisdictions across the state to provide language assistance to
communities with large numbers of LEP individuals. In total, 56
counties currently have language obligations under federal
and/or state law.
This assistance includes the recruitment of bilingual
individuals to serve as poll workers on Election Day. Many LEP
voters rely on bilingual poll workers to navigate the voting
process. However, for large counties or counties with new
language obligations, the task of recruiting sufficient numbers
of bilingual poll workers can be daunting. For example, Los
Angeles County, which provides assistance in nine languages
pursuant to federal law, recruited over 9,300 bilingual poll
workers for the November 2012 election.
Survey data and poll monitoring observations confirm LEP voters'
heavy reliance on language assistance and the barriers that LEP
voters face when language assistance is unavailable. Exit poll
data for the November 2008 election reveal that 60% of Korean
American voters in Los Angeles County used some form of language
assistance to cast their ballot, and in the November 2004
elections, over 60% of Vietnamese American voters in Orange
County relied on language assistance. By the same token, poll
monitors deployed in our election protection efforts have
witnessed LEP voters struggle with the process of obtaining and
filling out a ballot because of the lack of poll workers able to
communicate with them. . .
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AB 554 is an innovative approach to strengthening the ability of
county election officials to provide assistance to LEP voters.
Without imposing any mandates, the bill provides counties with
an expanded pool of individuals from which they can recruit
bilingual poll workers.
6)Previous Legislation: AB 817 (Bonta), Chapter 162, Statutes of
2013, authorized county elections officials to appoint a
person who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the
U.S., and who is otherwise eligible to register to vote except
for his or her lack of U.S. citizenship, to serve as a
precinct board member.
AB 1856 (McPherson), Chapter 337, Statutes of 1996, authorized
elections officials to appoint not more than two high school
seniors to work in a polling place on election day. SB 610
(Escutia), Chapter 530, Statutes of 2003, created a task force
to develop uniform training standards for poll workers and
increased the maximum number of student poll workers from two
to five. AB 2671 (Salinas), Chapter 576, Statutes of 2006,
deleted the restriction that a student must be a senior to
work as a member of a precinct board.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Asians and Pacific Islanders for LGBT Equality
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Sacramento
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California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
California Immigrant Policy Center
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials -
Educational Fund
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Southwest Center for Asian Pacific American Law
Thai Community Development Center
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared
by: Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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