BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1970
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1970 (Low) - As Introduced February 16, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to promulgate
regulations to establish guidelines for county elections
officials relating to the processing of vote-by-mail (VBM) and
provisional ballots.
FISCAL EFFECT:
AB 1970
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Minor one-time GF cost (around $50,000) for the SOS to
promulgate the regulations.
COMMENTS:
Background and Purpose. The number of voters choosing to vote by
mail has significantly increased in recent elections. In 2012,
for the first time in a statewide general election, over 50% of
voters cast their votes using a VBM ballot. This has
concurrently resulted in an increase in the number of VBM
ballots that go uncounted, with one of the principal reasons
being a mismatch between the signature on the voter's VBM ballot
identification envelop and the voter's affidavit of
registration.
The nonpartisan California Voter Foundation conducted a three
county (Sacramento, Orange, and Santa Cruz) study, focusing on
each county's VBM process. Among its findings, the study points
out that one of the reasons why counties may have varying
signature mismatch rejection rates is because there are very few
uniform standards for signature verification. The study
indicates that current state law is limited regarding what
criteria should be used to compare signatures. Moreover,
according to the study, all three counties have written
signature verification guidelines with slightly difference
processes for handling situations when a voter's signature may
not compare.
In an effort to address this issue, this bill requires the SOS
to develop regulations related to the processing of VBM and
provisional ballots.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
AB 1970
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319-2081