BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2071
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2071 (Harper)
As Amended April 19, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |7-0 |Weber, Harper, Travis | |
| | |Allen, Gordon, Low, | |
| | |Mullin, Nazarian | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Defines the term "bona fide private mail delivery
company" for the purposes of a vote by mail (VBM) ballot
received after Election Day, as specified. Specifically, this
bill defines a "bona fide private mail delivery company" to mean
a for-profit courier service that is in the regular business of
accepting a mail item, package, or parcel for the purpose of
delivery, at a cost, to a person or entity whose address is
specified on the item. Provides that a bona fide private mail
delivery company includes, but is not limited to, Dalsey,
Hillblom, & Lynn (DHL), Federal Express Corporation and United
Parcel Service (UPS).
AB 2071
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EXISTING LAW provides that a VBM ballot is timely cast if it is
received by the voter's elections official via the United States
Postal Service (USPS) or a bona fide private mail delivery
company no later than three days after election day, as
specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "AB 2071 will protect the
integrity of California's election system by providing that only
legitimate courier services that are in the regular business of
delivering parcels may handle and deliver VBM ballots on behalf
of voters after Election Day. This includes well-known services
such as DHL, FedEx, and UPS. As such, it will ensure that only
legitimate votes are counted, and that no California voter is
disenfranchised by the counting of ballots that have been
illegally harvested or tampered with in the days following an
election."
In 2014, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed SB 29
(Correa), Chapter 618, Statutes of 2014, which allowed VBM
ballots to be counted if they were cast by Election Day and
received by the elections official by mail no later than three
days after the election. SB 29 was introduced in response to
the fact that an increasing number of VBM ballots that were
returned to elections officials were arriving too late to be
counted. Furthermore, given a number of recently enacted and
planned USPS facility closures, there was a fear that the number
of ballots arriving too late to be counted would continue to
rise. According to a September 2014 report by the California
Civic Engagement Project at the University of California at
Davis Center for Regional Change, nearly 69,000 VBM ballots that
were received by county election offices in California for the
November 2012 general election were rejected during ballot
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processing, with 47.8% of uncounted ballots being rejected
because they arrived too late. Arriving late was the number one
reason why a VBM ballot was rejected.
Analysis Prepared by:
Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0002781