BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1504 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1504 (Alejo) As Amended June 1, 2015 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------| |Elections |4-3 |Ridley-Thomas, |Grove, Travis | | | |Gordon, Mullin, |Allen, Gatto | | | |Perea | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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: AB 1504 Page 2 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; AB 1504 Page 3 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 AB 1504 Page 4 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. AB 1504 Page 5 Analysis Prepared by: Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0000859