BILL NUMBER: AB 887 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 4, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ting
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Sections 3104 and 3105 of, and to add
Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 3050) to Division 3 of
Sections 3106.2 and 3106.5 to, the Elections
Code, relating to elections.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 887, as amended, Ting. Electronic ballot transmission.
Military and overseas voters: ballot submission by
electronic mail: Internet voting.
Existing law requires that a vote by mail ballot be available to
any registered voter and specifies the manner by which the ballot
must be returned. Existing law permits a military or overseas voter
who is temporarily living outside of the territorial limits of the
United States or the District of Columbia, or is called to military
service, to return his or her vote by mail ballot by facsimile
transmission to the elections official. The ballot must be received
by the closing of the election day polls and accompanied by an
identification envelope and an oath of voter declaration in a
prescribed form. Existing law requires a military or overseas voter
who returns a ballot by facsimile transmission to agree in an oath of
voter declaration under penalty of perjury to waive his or her right
to a secret ballot and that he or she has not applied for a vote by
mail ballot from any other jurisdiction for the election. The
elections official is required to determine the voter's eligibility
to vote by comparing the voter's signature from the materials
returned by facsimile transmission to the signature on the voter's
affidavit of registration.
This bill would permit a military or overseas voter to return his
or her ballot by electronic mail, as prescribed. The bill would
require the ballot to be accompanied by a copy of an identification
envelope and an oath of voter declaration in substantially the form
described with respect to facsimile transmission of ballots. This
bill would require the elections official to determine the voter's
eligibility to vote by comparing the signature on the scanned copy of
the identification envelope with the signature on the voter's
affidavit of registration.
This bill would permit a military or overseas voter to cast his or
her vote on the Internet by electronically marking his or her ballot
and securely transmitting the voted ballot to the appropriate
elections official. To be counted, the voted ballot must be received
by the voter's elections official no later than the closing of the
polls on election day. These provisions would become operative only
if the Secretary of State certifies that he or she has identified and
addressed all issues regarding the security of casting a vote using
the Internet.
Because the bill requires elections officials to provide a higher
level of service and expands the scope of the crime of perjury, it
would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires that a vote by mail ballot be available to
any registered voter. Under existing law, a voter may: (1) return the
vote by mail ballot by mail or in person to the elections official
from whom it came; (2) return the vote by mail ballot in person to a
member of a precinct board at a polling place within the
jurisdiction, or (3), if unable to return the vote by mail ballot,
designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild,
brother, sister, or a person residing in the same household as the
vote by mail voter to return the ballot to the elections official
from whom it came or to the precinct board at a polling place within
the jurisdiction.
This bill would authorize an elections official to send a voter a
ballot by secure electronic transmission for an election conducted
wholly within the county. This bill would also require a voter who
receives a ballot in this manner to print the ballot for return to
the elections official.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 3104 of the
Elections Code is amended to read:
3104. Applications for the ballots of military or overseas voters
shall be received and, except as provided in Section 3106,
Sections 3106, 3106.2, and 3106.5, the ballots
shall be received and canvassed, at the same time and under the same
procedure as vote by mail ballots, insofar as that procedure is not
inconsistent with this chapter.
SEC. 2. Section 3105 of the Elections
Code is amended to read:
3105. (a) Any An application made
pursuant to this chapter that is received by the elections official
prior to the 60th day before the election shall be kept and processed
on or after the 60th day before the election.
(b) (1) The elections official shall send the ballot not earlier
than 60 days but not later than 45 days before the election and shall
include with the ballot a list of all candidates who have qualified
for the ballot and a list of all measures that are to be submitted to
the voters and on which the voter is qualified to vote. The voter
shall be entitled to write in the name of any specific candidate
seeking nomination or election to any office listed on the ballot.
(2) The military or overseas voter may, in the alternative to the
ballot provided pursuant to paragraph (1), use a federal write-in
absentee ballot to vote in any election in which the military or
overseas voter is qualified to vote.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 15341 or any other provision
of law, any name written upon a ballot for a particular
office pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be counted for the office or
nomination, providing the candidate whose name has been written on
the ballot has, as of the date of the election, qualified to have his
or her name placed on the ballot for the office, or has qualified as
a write-in candidate for the office.
(d) Except as provided in Section 3106,
Sections 3106, 3106.2, and 3106.5, the elections official shall
receive and canvass military or overseas voter ballots described in
this section under the same procedure as vote by mail ballots,
insofar as that procedure is not inconsistent with this section.
(e) In the event that a military or overseas voter executes a
ballot pursuant to this section and an application for a vote by mail
ballot pursuant to Section 3102, the elections official shall
process the application and the ballot in accordance with this
chapter.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
a military or overseas voter who qualifies pursuant to this chapter
may, by facsimile transmission, register to vote and apply for a
ballot pursuant to this section or a vote by mail ballot. Upon
request, the elections official shall send the ballot to the
qualified military or overseas voter either by mail, facsimile, or
electronic transmission, as requested by the voter.
SEC. 3. Section 3106.2 is added to the
Elections Code , to read:
3106.2. (a) A military or overseas voter, as described in
subdivision (b) of Section 300, may return his or her vote by mail
ballot by electronic mail in the manner prescribed in subdivision
(b). To be counted, the ballot returned by electronic mail must be
received by the voter's elections official no later than the closing
of the polls on election day and must be accompanied by a copy of an
identification envelope containing all of the information required by
Section 3011 and an oath of voter declaration in substantially the
form described in subdivision (a) of Section 3106.
(b) To submit a ballot by electronic mail, the ballot and
accompanying identification envelope and oath of voter declaration
must be scanned to create electronic copies of the documents. The
electronic copies of the documents shall be included in the
electronic mail sent to the elections official as attachments. The
Secretary of State shall adopt uniform regulations for the use of
electronic mail in returning ballots.
(c) Notwithstanding the voter's waiver of the right to a secret
ballot, each elections official shall adopt appropriate procedures to
protect the secrecy of ballots returned by electronic mail.
(d) Upon receipt of a ballot returned by electronic mail, the
elections official shall determine the voter's eligibility to vote by
comparing the signature on the scanned copy of the identification
envelope with the signature on the voter's affidavit of registration.
The ballot shall be duplicated and all materials preserved according
to procedures set forth in this code.
SEC. 4. Section 3106.5 is added to the
Elections Code , to read:
3106.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a military or overseas
voter, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 300, may cast his
or her vote on the Internet by electronically marking his or her
ballot and securely transmitting the voted ballot to the appropriate
elections official using the Internet. To be counted, the voted
ballot must be received by the voter's elections official no later
than the closing of the polls on election day.
(b) The Secretary of State shall adopt uniform regulations for
military and overseas voters to cast votes using the Internet.
(c) This section shall become operative only if the Secretary of
State certifies that he or she has identified and addressed all
issues regarding the security of casting a vote using the Internet.
SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency
or school district because, in that regard, this act creates a new
crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the
penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime
within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of
Title 2 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1. Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section
3050) is added to Division 3 of the Elections Code, to read:
CHAPTER 1.5. ELECTRONIC BALLOT TRANSMISSION
3050. (a) An elections official may send a voter a ballot by
secure electronic transmission if the election is conducted wholly
within the county.