BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      AB 1504


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          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:  








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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