BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 562 Hearing Date: 6/16/15
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|Author: |Holden |
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|Version: |5/6/15 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|Frances Tibon Estoista |
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Subject: Elections: ballots
DIGEST
This bill 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 and
makes other technical changes.
ANALYSIS
Existing law sets forth the order of precedence of offices and
measures on the ballot, and requires the office of SPI to be
listed in the ballot under the heading, SCHOOL. Existing law
specifically:
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,
AB 562 (Holden) Page 2
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c) The titles and summaries of measures submitted to a vote
of the voters.
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;
vii) Insurance Commissioner; and,
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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:
i) Chief Justice of California;
ii) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court;
iii) Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal;
iv) Associate Justice, Court of Appeal;
v) Judge of the Superior Court; and,
vi) Marshal.
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j) Under the heading, SCHOOL:
i) Superintendent of Public Instruction;
ii) County Superintendent of Schools;
iii) County Board of Education Members;
iv) College District Governing Board Members;
v) Unified District Governing Board Members;
vi) High School District Governing Board Members;
and,
vii) Elementary District Governing Board Members.
aa) Under the heading, COUNTY:
i) County Supervisor; and,
ii) Other offices in alphabetical order by the
title of the office.
bb) Under the heading, CITY:
i) Mayor;
ii) Member, City Council; and,
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iii) Other offices in alphabetical order by the
title of the office.
cc) Under the heading, DISTRICT: Directors or
trustees for each district in alphabetical order according
to the name of the district.
dd) 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
school, county, or city office and state measures always
precede local measures.
This bill: Changes the order of precedence on the ballot for
the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction by doing the
following:
1)Creates the heading STATEWIDE EDUCATION and places it just
below candidates or nominees to the Assembly.
2)Requires the title Superintendent of Public Instruction be
listed immediately underneath the heading STATEWIDE EDUCATION.
3)Makes other technical changes.
BACKGROUND
Ballot Content and Form : Existing law requires a ballot to
comply with a variety of laws that dictate its form and content.
For example, a ballot is required 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, existing 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
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allowing a county elections official to make ballot formatting
changes to 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.
COMMENTS
1)According to the Author , the Superintendent of Public
Instruction is the only statewide elected officer that does
not appear at the top of the ballot. AB 562 makes a technical
change to instead require the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to be listed under the heading, "STATEWIDE
EDUCATION," alongside other statewide elected officers in
order to ensure that voters have the opportunity to select
their candidate.
2)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 located lower on the ballot for
other offices (such as state legislators, judicial, county
supervisors, 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 Sacramento Bee
editorial 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
either of the two candidates running for the office of SPI.
PRIOR ACTION
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|Assembly Floor: |74 - 0 |
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|Assembly Elections and Redistricting | 7 - 0 |
|Committee: | |
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
Oppose: None received
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