BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1504 Hearing Date: 6/30/15
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|Author: |Alejo |
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|Version: |6/1/15 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|Frances Tibon Estoista |
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Subject: Elections: all-mailed ballot elections: pilot project
DIGEST
Elections: all-mailed ballot elections: pilot project.
ANALYSIS
Existing law :
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 dropoff location is provided in
each city within the jurisdiction or ballot dropoff
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locations are fixed in a manner so that the number of
residents for each ballot dropoff location does not exceed
100,000 on the 88th day prior to the election, whichever
results in more dropoff locations. Requires dropoff
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 mail
ballot, including an envelope for the return of the voted
mail ballot with postage prepaid;
f) The elections official posts on the Web site of the
county elections office and delivers to each voter, with
either the sample ballot or with the voter's ballot, a
list of the ballot dropoff 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 the county if it conducts an all-mailed ballot
election pursuant to the pilot project described above, to
report to the Legislature and to the SOS regarding the
success of the election. Requires the report to include, but
not be limited to, statistics on the cost to conduct the
election; the turnout of different populations, including,
but not limited to, 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, whenever possible, to compare the success
of the all-mailed ballot election to similar elections not
conducted wholly by mail in the same jurisdiction or
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comparable jurisdictions. Requires the report to be
submitted to the Legislature within six months after the date
of an all-mailed ballot election or prior to the date of any
other all-mailed ballot election conducted pursuant to the
pilot project, whichever is sooner.
3) Permits an election to be conducted wholly by mail if the
governing body authorizes the use of mailed ballots for the
election, the election occurs on an established mailed ballot
election date, and the election is one of the following:
a) An election in which no more than 1,000 registered
voters are eligible to participate;
b) An election in a city, county, or district with 5,000
or fewer registered voters that is restricted to the
imposition of special taxes, expenditure limitation
overrides, or both;
c) An election on the issuance of a general obligation
water bond;
d) An election in one of four specifically enumerated
water districts; or,
e) An election or assessment ballot proceeding required
or authorized by the state constitution under Proposition
218.
4) Authorizes a city with a population of 100,000 or less or a
school district to conduct any special election held to fill
a vacancy as an all-mailed ballot election.
5) Authorizes a special district to conduct any election as an
all-mailed ballot election on any date other than an
established election date.
This bill :
1) 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
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dates, on or before December 31, 2017 and subject to certain
conditions and reporting requirements.
2) Makes corresponding and technical changes.
BACKGROUND
Prior All-Mailed Ballot Election Pilot Project in Monterey
County : AB 319 (Salinas, Chapter 385, Statutes of 2001),
allowed Monterey County to conduct any election within the
county as an all-mailed ballot election, provided that the
election did not contain a state or federal office. AB 319
specified that it was to serve as a pilot project for mailed
ballot elections, and required Monterey County to report to the
Legislature and the SOS regarding the success of the election,
including, but not limited to, any statistics on the increase of
voter fraud. The pilot project ended on December 31, 2005. AB
591 (Salinas of 2005) sought to extend the pilot project until
December 31, 2008, but that bill failed after never being heard
in the Senate Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional
Amendments Committee.
Unfortunately, the report filed by Monterey County as part of
the pilot project was cursory, and less than one page long, and
therefore lacked information necessary to evaluate the pilot
project. Although the report concluded that the mailed ballot
elections conducted under the pilot project had increased
turnout, decreased costs, and did not result in voter fraud, the
report lacked the detail necessary to assess these claims.
Furthermore, the report failed to disclose an incident in which
approximately 200 registered voters in the Castroville area of
the County did not receive a ballot until after election day for
one of the elections held under the pilot project.
San Mateo and Yolo County Pilot Project : 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
further expanding the circumstances under which elections are
permitted to be conducted as all-mailed ballot elections. Yolo
County conducted all-mailed ballot elections in March, 2013 in
the City of Davis and the Washington Unified School District as
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permitted by AB 413, and submitted its report on those elections
in December 2013.
The report prepared in connection with the first two elections
conducted in Yolo County under the pilot project found that
turnout at the all-mailed ballot elections conducted as part of
the pilot project was not significantly different than similar
polling place elections held in the two jurisdictions in prior
years. The study also found that turnout rates broken down by
age, ethnic background, party preference, and permanent VBM
status was consistent and similar between the polling place and
the all-mailed ballot elections. The study found that data
provided on the cost to conduct all-mailed ballot elections was
inconclusive in determining whether there are significant
savings to moving to all-mailed ballot elections. However, the
study also cautioned that Davis - one of the jurisdictions in
which the pilot was conducted - "is a relatively affluent,
homogenous community with a higher level of educational
achievement than most other areas of the state" and so the
results "are not necessarily applicable to other, dissimilar
communities." The report also noted that the effects of
all-mailed ballot elections on turnout would not necessarily be
similar in general elections. Yolo County is permitted to
conduct local elections as all-mailed ballot elections on two
additional dates before the conclusion of the pilot project.
COMMENTS
1) 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 scheduled to sunset in
2018.
In recent years, the percentage of California voters who cast
mail-in ballots has increased dramatically, and it is
especially significant in special elections. In recent
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elections, more than 80% of voters cast their ballots by mail
in some cases. Given the record low 18.3% voter turnout in
the recent 2014 statewide primary election, the lowest since
1946, California is facing a democracy crisis when it comes
to the civic participation of its voters and all mail
elections offer an opportunity to turn that around.
University of California San Diego research indicates that when
special elections are conducted by mail, turnout levels
increase by close to eight percentage points in California.
An increase of this magnitude could mean nearly doubling
turnout rates in some jurisdictions. In addition, the policy
has the potential to save taxpayer dollars because
mail-ballot elections typically cost significantly less than
traditional polling place elections which includes staffing
expenses.
In the early 1990s, California embarked on an all-mail special
election pilot project. That particular project was
conducted in Stanislaus County, and the results indicated
increase in turnout from 7% below the statewide average to 7%
above. In addition, the county spent half as much money
administering the election as it did during traditional
polling place elections. However, the pilot was not
extended, nor was the policy adopted statewide.
Nearly two decades later, in 2011, the Legislature authorized
another pilot project in a rural county, again with the
intention of examining the turnout effects of vote-by-mail
elections. The project only applied to one rural county, and
the number of mail-in elections dates is capped at three.
Prior elections were conducted on one out of the three total
permissible election dates, and a subsequent election report
demonstrated no significant increase or decrease in turnout,
including when turnout levels were broken down by ethnicity.
The report did, however, indicate a total cost-savings of
about 43%. In the end, it called for more data on all-mail
elections in California. In addition, more data is also
needed to gauge the impact of SB 29 (Correa) which allows VBM
ballots to be accepted and counted even if they arrive at a
county election headquarters up to three days after Election
Day.
Last year the Legislature added San Mateo County to the pilot
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program, but the program should be expanded even more to
gather more data. In doing so, more counties should be
included to add to the data collected from the rural and
urban counties of Yolo and San Mateo that are already part of
the program. Monterey County and Sacramento County are great
candidates as rural and urban counties, respectively.
Monterey County even had temporary authorization to conduct
all-mail elections for a two-year period from 2002 to 2003,
so there is already experience and infrastructure for
all-mail elections. By adding Monterey County and Sacramento
County to the current pilot, AB 1504 proposes a minor
expansion of the program.
2) All Mailed Ballot Election Pilot Project?Take Three? . 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. (San Mateo County conducted an
all-mailed ballot election on May 5, 2015, for a parcel tax
measure in the San Carlos School District, but that election
was conducted as an all-mailed ballot election pursuant to
other provisions of existing law, and not as part of the
pilot project authorized by AB 2028.)
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
SB 450 (Allen), would permit counties to mail a VBM ballot to
each voter for any election and establish VBM dropoff locations
and "vote centers" in lieu of traditional polling places, as
specified. SB 450 is current in Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee.
AB 547 (Gonzalez), which is scheduled to be heard in this
committee next month, expands a previously authorized mailed
ballot election pilot project in San Diego County to allow
certain local elections held in San Diego County to be conducted
pursuant to the provisions of that project.
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AB 2028 (Mullin, Chapter 209, Statutes of 2014), allowed San
Mateo County to join Yolo County in participating in an ongoing
pilot project created by AB 413.
AB 1873 (Gonzalez and Mullin, Chapter 598, Statutes of 2014),
allows special elections in San Diego County to fill vacancies
in the Legislature and Congress, to be conducted by mailed
ballot until 2020, subject to certain conditions.
AB 413 (Yamada, Chapter 187, Statutes of 2011), created a pilot
program allowing Yolo County to conduct local elections on not
more than three dates as all-mailed ballot elections and sunsets
on January 1, 2018.
SB 304 (Kehoe of 2011) would have authorized elections in San
Diego County to be conducted wholly by mail until January 1,
2016, if specified conditions were satisfied. SB 304 was never
heard in committee.
SB 1102 (Liu of 2010) would have permitted a special primary or
run-off election to fill a legislative or congressional vacancy
to be conducted wholly by mail provided that the board of
supervisors of each county within the affected jurisdiction
authorized the all-mail ballot election. SB 1102 was never
brought up for vote on the Senate Floor.
AB 1681 (Yamada of 2010) was similar to AB 413. AB 1681 was
vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who expressed concern that
"with limited options to vote in-person citizens - especially
poor, elderly, and disabled voters - would not have sufficient
opportunity to vote."
AB 1228 (Yamada of 2009) was similar to AB 1681, except that AB
1228 would have allowed both Yolo and Santa Clara Counties to
participate in the all-mail ballot pilot project. AB 1228 was
vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger for the same reasons stated in
his veto message of AB 1681 above.
PRIOR ACTION
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|Assembly Floor: |53 - 27 |
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|Assembly Elections and Redistricting | 4 - 3 |
|Committee: | |
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
Urban Counties Caucus
Oppose: None received
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