BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 562
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GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
562 (Holden)
As Enrolled September 10, 2015
2/3 vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |7-0 |Ridley-Thomas, Grove, | |
| | | | |
| | |Travis Allen, Gatto, | |
| | |Gordon, Mullin, Perea | |
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|ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(May 22, 2015) |SENATE: |40-0 |(September 8, |
| | | | | |2015) |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
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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.
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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.
2)Requires the offices on the ballot to be listed in the order
detailed below:
a) President and Vice President.
b) President of the United States.
c) State offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney
General, Insurance Commissioner, and Members of the State
Board of Equalization.
d) United States Senate.
e) United States House of Representatives.
f) State Senate.
g) State Assembly.
h) Political Party County Central Committee.
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i) Judicial offices.
j) School offices, including SPI.
aa) County offices.
bb) District offices.
cc) Ballot 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: 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."
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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
accommodate the limitations of a voting system or vote
tabulating device, as specified, most requirements are fairly
specific.
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. 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.
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
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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 either of the two candidates running
for the office of SPI.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
This bill would move the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
a new stand-alone category entitled "STATEWIDE EDUCATION" near
the top of statewide ballots, instead of under the current
heading of "SCHOOL," along with other education officials.
Just as the Chief Justice is placed with all other judicial
candidates -- both local and regional -- on the ballot, it
stands to reason that the Superintendent of Public Instruction
should be placed with all other educational candidates.
The current ballot order has existed with minimal changes for
decades, and I don't think there is a good reason to change it
now.
Analysis Prepared by:
Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0002522
AB 562
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