BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session AB 1970 (Low) - Elections: vote by mail and provisional ballots ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: February 16, 2016 |Policy Vote: E. & C.A. 4 - 1 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 1970 would require 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 Impact: SOS indicates that it would incur a one-time cost of $55,000 (General Fund) to promulgate the regulations. Background: Current law requires a county elections official, upon receiving a VBM ballot or a provisional ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the signature appearing in the voter's registration record. Specifically, existing law requires a county elections official to compare the signatures on the envelope with either the signature appearing AB 1970 (Low) Page 1 of ? on the voter's affidavit of registration or any previous affidavit of registration of the voter, or the signature appearing on a form issued by an elections official that contains the voter's signature and that is part of the voter's registration record. If the signatures compare, the county elections official is required to deposit the ballot, still in the identification envelope, in a ballot container in his or her office. If the signatures do not compare, existing law requires the envelope to remain unopened and the ballot not be counted. Due to an increase in VBM and provisional ballots, and to make the verification process more efficient, many county elections officials use signature verification technology to compare and verify signatures on ballot identification envelopes. Existing law, however, prohibits elections officials, if the signature verification technology determines the signatures do not compare, from rejecting the ballot unless he or she visually examines the signatures and verifies that the signatures do not compare. Proposed Law: This bill would require SOS promulgate regulations establishing guidelines for county elections officials relating to the processing of VBM, and provisional ballots. Staff Comments: 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 percent 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 AB 1970 (Low) Page 2 of ? 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 would require SOS to develop regulations related to the processing of VBM and provisional ballots. -- END --