BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1504| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1504 Author: Alejo (D), et al. Amended: 6/1/15 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-0, 6/30/15 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Hertzberg, Liu NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-27, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Elections: all-mailed ballot elections: pilot project SOURCE: Author DIGEST: 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, on or before December 31, 2017, and subject to certain conditions and reporting requirements.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 AB 1504 Page 2 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 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. AB 1504 Page 3 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 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 AB 1504 Page 4 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 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, 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 AB 1504 Page 5 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 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. AB 1504 Page 6 Comments 1) Purpose of the bill. 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 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 AB 1504 Page 7 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 VBM 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, Chapter 618, Statutes of 2014) 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 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 AB 1504 Page 8 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.) FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified7/1/15) California Association of Clerks and Election Officials Monterey County Board of Supervisors Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Urban Counties Caucus OPPOSITION: (Verified7/1/15) American Civil Liberties Union of California Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles Disability Rights California ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, voter turnout for special elections is incredibly low with fewer than 10% of voters turning out in some instances. Additionally, more than 50% of California voters are now voting by mail in statewide general elections, and the numbers are more dramatic in special elections. In recent special elections some saw more than 80% of voters cast their ballot by mail. Finally, authorizing Sacramento County to conduct all-mail ballot elections, as specified, could mean not only an increase in voter participation but also a significant cost savings to the taxpayers. A Yolo County study found a cost savings of as much as 43% under the all-mail format in 2013. Including Sacramento County in the pilot program would broaden the statewide analysis of the impact of conducting all-mailed AB 1504 Page 9 ballot elections by adding a large urban county. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The American Civil Liberties Union, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles, and Disability Rights California believe the potential to disenfranchise voters with disabilities and those with limited-English proficiency outweighs the potential gains. In-person voting is how California provides much-needed services to certain voters. Many voters with disabilities rely on in-person voting because they can use an accessible voting machine to cast a ballot. Voters who are blind or who have a manual dexterity disability may rely on voting machines to cast a vote because paper ballots available by mail are inaccessible. Similarly, voters with limited-English proficiency, who account for 11% of eligible voters in Monterey County and 8% in Sacramento County, often use in-person voting because they can receive assistance from bilingual poll workers on Election Day and have the opportunity to view a facsimile ballot in the language of their choice. ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-27, 6/3/15 AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Atkins NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Chávez, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gatto, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Patterson, Salas, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk Prepared by:Frances Tibon Estoista / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106 7/2/15 14:12:00 **** END **** AB 1504 Page 10