BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 562
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
AB 562
(Holden) - As Amended May 6, 2015
SUBJECT: Elections: ballots.
SUMMARY: Requires the office of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to be listed on the ballot under the heading
of STATEWIDE EDUCATION. Requires the office of SPI to appear on
the ballot immediately after the races for state Assembly.
Makes other technical changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires every ballot to contain the following:
a) The title of each office, arranged to conform as nearly
as practical in accordance with existing law;
b) The names of all qualified candidates, as specified;
and,
c) The titles and summaries of measures submitted to a vote
of the voters.
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2)Requires the offices on the ballot to be listed in the order
detailed below, beginning in the column to the left:
a) Under the heading, PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT (at a
Presidential general election): Nominees of the qualified
political parties and independent nominees for President
and Vice President.
b) Under the heading, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (at a
Presidential primary election): Names of the presidential
candidates to whom the delegates are pledged and names of
the chairpersons of unpledged delegations.
c) Under the heading STATE:
i) Governor;
ii) Lieutenant Governor;
iii) Secretary of State;
iv) Controller;
v) Treasurer;
vi) Attorney General;
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vii) Insurance Commissioner; and,
viii) Member, State Board of Equalization.
(d) Under the heading, UNITED STATES SENATOR: Candidates or
nominees to the United States Senate.
(e) Under the heading, UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE:
Candidates or nominees to the House of Representatives of the
United States.
(f) Under the heading, STATE SENATOR: Candidates or nominees
to the State Senate.
(g) Under the heading, MEMBER OF THE STATE ASSEMBLY:
Candidates or nominees to the Assembly.
(h) Under the heading, COUNTY COMMITTEE: Members of the
County Central Committee.
(i) Under the heading, JUDICIAL:
(1) Chief Justice of California;
(2) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court;
(3) Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal;
(4) Associate Justice, Court of Appeal;
(5) Judge of the Superior Court; and,
(6) Marshal.
(j) Under the heading, SCHOOL:
(1) SPI;
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(2) County Superintendent of Schools;
(3) County Board of Education Members;
(4) College District Governing Board Members;
(5) Unified District Governing Board Members;
(6) High School District Governing Board Members; and,
(7) Elementary District Governing Board Members.
(k) Under the heading, COUNTY:
(1) County Supervisor; and,
(2) Other offices in alphabetical order by the title of the
office.
(l) Under the heading, CITY:
(1) Mayor;
(2) Member, City Council; and,
(3) Other offices in alphabetical order by the title of the
office.
(m) Under the heading, DISTRICT: Directors or trustees for
each district in alphabetical order according to the name of
the district.
(n) Under the heading, MEASURES SUBMITTED TO THE VOTERS,
ballot measures beginning with state measures.
3)Permits county elections officials to vary the order of
school, county, city, and district offices and measures in
order to allow for the most efficient use of space on the
ballot provided that the office of SPI always precedes any
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school, county, or city office and state measures always
precede local measures.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
Studies show that most voters do not make it to the bottom
of a ballot, therefore preventing them from fully
participating in the election process. The Superintendent
of Public Instruction is the only statewide elected officer
that does not appear at the top of the ballot and, as a
result, may not receive the entirety of votes cast.
Assembly Bill 562 makes a technical change to place the
Superintendent of Public Instruction at the top of the
ballot alongside other statewide elected officers in order
to ensure that voters have the opportunity to select their
candidate.
2)Ballot Content and Form: Current law requires a ballot to
comply with a variety of laws that dictate its form and
content. For example, existing law requires a ballot to
contain the title of each office, the names of all qualified
candidates, as specified, ballot designations, as specified,
titles and summaries of measures submitted to voters, and
instructions to voters, among other things. In addition,
current law requires a ballot to follow certain formatting
requirements, such as the order offices must appear on the
ballot and font size. While existing law does allow for some
flexibility in ballot format, such as allowing a county
elections official to make ballot formatting changes to
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accommodate the limitations of a voting system or vote
tabulating device, as specified, most requirements are fairly
specific.
As described above, current law requires the office of SPI to be
listed under the heading SCHOOL, which is listed after
candidates for President and Vice President, candidates for
statewide offices (such as Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
Secretary of State, etc.), candidates for United States
Senator and Representative, candidates for state Senate and
Assembly, candidates for county central committees, and
finally judicial candidates. As a result, the office of SPI
is found further down the ballot usually on the second page.
According to the author' statement, the office of SPI should
be moved to the top of the ballot alongside other statewide
elected officers in order to ensure that voters have the
opportunity to select their candidate. This bill makes
technical changes to the placement of the office of SPI on the
ballot. Specifically, this bill requires the office of the
SPI to be moved up on the ballot and be listed after
candidates for the state Assembly under the new heading of
STATEWIDE EDUCATION.
3)Ballot Placement: Many studies discuss the phenomenon of
"voter fatigue" or "ballot drop-off" in which the number of
votes cast per office drops consistently as a voter moves down
the ballot. For instance, the number of votes cast for
president is almost always much greater than the number of
votes cast for many candidates for lower statewide elected
office (such as lieutenant governor, attorney general,
secretary of state, etc.) or other local offices (such as
state legislators, city councilors, etc.). Other studies
discuss the advantage of ballot placement content and contend
that there is an advantage to being listed first on the ballot
and that offices in the middle and the bottom of the ballot
tend to receive less attention. According to a news media
article provided by the author's office, approximately 6.7
million ballots were cast in the November 4, 2014 general
election, and only 5.4 million of them included a vote for
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either of the two candidates running for the office of SPI.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094