BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1504
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1504 (Alejo)
As Amended June 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |4-3 |Ridley-Thomas, |Grove, Travis |
| | |Gordon, Mullin, |Allen, Gatto |
| | |Perea | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Authorizes Monterey and Sacramento Counties to
participate in an ongoing pilot project that allows certain
elections to be conducted entirely by mailed ballot.
Specifically, this bill allows Monterey and Sacramento Counties to
join a pilot program currently underway in San Mateo and Yolo
Counties, under which the participating counties are permitted to
conduct all-mailed ballot elections on up to three different
dates, subject to certain conditions and reporting requirements.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Allows elections held on no more than three different dates in
San Mateo and Yolo Counties to be conducted wholly by mail, as
part of a pilot project lasting through January 1, 2018, subject
to the following conditions:
a) The governing body of the city, county, or district, by
resolution, authorizes the all-mailed ballot election and
notifies the Secretary of State (SOS) of its intent to
conduct an all-mailed ballot election at least 88 days prior
to the date of the election;
b) The election does not occur on the same date as a
statewide primary or general election or any other election
conducted in an overlapping jurisdiction that is not
consolidated and conducted as an all-mailed ballot election,
and is not a special election to fill a vacancy in a state
office, the Legislature, or Congress;
c) At least one ballot drop-off location is provided in each
city within the jurisdiction or drop-off locations are fixed
so that the number of residents for each drop-off location
does not exceed 100,000 on the 88th day prior to the
election, whichever results in more drop-off locations.
Requires drop-off locations to be open during business hours
to receive voted ballots beginning 28 days before the date of
the election and until 8 p.m. on the day of the election;
d) At least one polling place is provided per city where
voters can request a ballot between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the
day of the election if they need a replacement ballot;
e) The elections official delivers to each voter all supplies
necessary for the use and return of the ballot, including an
envelope for the return of the voted ballot with postage
prepaid;
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f) The elections official posts on the Web site of the county
elections office and delivers to each voter a list of the
ballot drop-off locations and polling places provided; and,
g) The polling places provided are at accessible locations
and are equipped with voting units or systems that are
accessible to individuals with disabilities.
2)Requires, if San Mateo or Yolo County conducts an all-mailed
ballot election pursuant to the pilot project, that the county
report to the Legislature and the SOS regarding the success of
the election. Requires the report to include statistics on the
cost to conduct the election; the turnout of different
populations, including the population categories of race,
ethnicity, age, gender, disability, permanent vote by mail (VBM)
status, and political party affiliation, to the extent possible;
the number of ballots that were not counted and the reasons why
they were rejected; voter fraud; and, any other problems that
became known to the county during the election or canvass.
Requires the report, when possible, to compare the success of
the all-mailed ballot election to similar elections not
conducted wholly by mail in the same jurisdiction.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "This bill seeks to modestly
expand the current pilot program allowing for all mail elections
by adding Monterey County and Sacramento County to the list of
participating counties? This will allow for additional information
to be collected about the impact of all mail elections,
particularly in more rural counties where polling places tend to
be more spread out and difficult to access and urban counties
where voters face different challenges. Currently, only one urban
county (San Mateo County) and one rural county (Yolo County) are
allow[ed] to participate under the existing pilot program which is
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scheduled to sunset in 2018."
Under state law, any voter can request a VBM ballot for any
election, and any voter can become a permanent VBM voter.
Permanent VBM voters automatically receive a ballot in the mail
for every election, without the need to re-apply for a VBM ballot.
As such, any voter who prefers to receive a ballot by mail has
the ability to do so under existing law.
In 2011, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed AB 413
(Yamada), Chapter 187, Statutes of 2011, which created a pilot
program allowing Yolo County to conduct local elections on not
more than three dates as all-mailed ballot elections. AB 413 was
intended to serve as a pilot project to evaluate the desirability
of expanding the circumstances under which elections are permitted
to be conducted as all-mailed ballot elections. Yolo County
conducted two all-mailed ballot elections in March 2013 as
permitted by AB 413, and submitted its report on those elections
in December 2013.
Last year, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed AB
2028 (Mullin), Chapter 209, Statutes of 2014, which allowed San
Mateo County to join Yolo County in participating in the ongoing
pilot project. Part of the author's rationale for introducing AB
2028 was to expand the pilot program to gather more data, and to
get information from an urban county "to contrast the rural county
[Yolo] that is already part of the program." San Mateo County has
not yet conducted an election as part of the all-mailed ballot
pilot program that was expanded by AB 2028.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of
this bill.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0000859