BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2824
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Shirley Weber, Chair
AB 2824
(Thurmond) - As Amended April 6, 2016
SUBJECT: Elections: precinct reports.
SUMMARY: Requires a county elections official, with the
technical capacity to do so, to post semiofficial election
information on the county's Internet Website in both
downloadable spreadsheet and Election Markup Language (EML)
formats, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a county with the technical capacity to do so to post
the following information on its Internet Website:
a) A statement of the results showing all the following:
i) The total number of ballots cast;
ii) The number of votes cast at each precinct for each
candidate and for and against each measure;
iii) The number of votes cast for each candidate and for
and against each measure; and,
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iv) The number of votes cast in each city, Assembly
district, congressional district, senatorial district,
State Board of Equalization district, and supervisorial
district located in whole or in part in the county, for
each candidate for the offices of presidential elector
and all statewide offices, depending on the offices to be
filled, and on each statewide ballot proposition.
b) Precinct data for absentee ballots, provisional ballots,
spoiled ballots, and any other data readily available on
the computer system.
2)Requires a county to provide the information listed above in
both downloadable spreadsheet and EML formats. Permits the
spreadsheet to include a comma-separated values file or a
tab-separated values file that is compatible with a
spreadsheet software application widely used at the time of
the posting. Requires a county, if it does not have the
capability to provide this information in the formats
described, to provide the information in whichever format it
is able.
3)Requires a county, following the commencement of the semifinal
official canvass, to post the information described above at
the end of election night, daily through the first Friday
after election day, and thereafter, weekly on Fridays until
the results are certified in accordance with existing law.
4)Requires a county, if modification to its voting system would
allow the county to comply with the posting requirements
stated above, to propose a modification of its voting system
to the Secretary of State (SOS) for approval pursuant to
existing law.
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5)Decreases the length of time that a county elections official
must post and maintain the certified statement of the election
results on its Internet Website following the election from at
least 10 years to at least 22 months.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires an elections official, for every election, to conduct
a semifinal official canvass by tabulating vote by mail (VBM)
and precinct ballots and compiling the results. Requires the
semifinal official canvass to commence immediately upon the
close of the polls and continue without adjournment until all
precincts are accounted for.
2)Requires an elections official to transmit the semifinal
official results to the SOS, in a manner prescribed by the
SOS, for the following:
a) All candidates voted for the following offices:
i) Statewide office;
ii) Member of the Assembly;
iii) Member of the Senate;
iv) Member of the United States House of
Representatives;
v) Member of the State Board of Equalization;
vi) Justice of the Court of Appeal; and,
vii) Judge of the superior court;
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b) The persons voted for at the presidential primary;
c) The vote given for persons for electors of President and
Vice President of the United States;
d) All statewide measures; and,
e) The total number of ballots cast.
3)Requires the elections official to transmit the results to the
SOS at intervals no greater than two hours, following the
commencement of the semifinal official canvass.
4)Requires the elections official who conducts an election to
prepare a certified statement of the results of the election
and submit it to the governing body within 30 days of the
election or, in the case of school district, community college
district, county board of education, or special district
elections conducted on the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November of odd-numbered years, no later than the
last Monday before the last Friday of that month.
5)Requires an elections official to post the certified statement
of the results of an election on his or her Internet Website
in a downloadable spreadsheet format that may include, but is
not limited to, a comma-separated values file or a
tab-separated values file that is compatible with a
spreadsheet software application that is widely used at the
time of the posting. Provides that this requirement applies
only to those counties with a computer system capable of
compliance without undergoing any modification.
6)Requires the certified statement of the election results to be
posted and maintained on the elections official's Internet
Website for a period of at least 10 years following the
election.
7)Requires the certified statement of the results to show all of
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the following:
a) The total number of ballots cast;
b) The number of votes cast at each precinct for each
candidate and for and against each measure;
c) The total number of votes cast for each candidate and
for and against each measure; and,
d) The number of votes cast in each city, Assembly
district, congressional district, senatorial district,
State Board of Equalization district, and supervisorial
district located in whole or in part in the county, for
each candidate for the offices of presidential elector and
all statewide offices, depending on the offices to be
filled, and on each statewide ballot proposition.
8)Requires an elections official to send the SOS within 31 days
of the election, in an electronic format, a complete copy of
the results of all of the following:
a) All candidates voted for the following offices:
i) Statewide office;
ii) Member of the Assembly;
iii) Member of the Senate;
iv) Member of the United States House of
Representatives;
v) Member of the State Board of Equalization;
vi) Justice of the Court of Appeal; and,
vii) Judge of the superior court;
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b) The persons voted for at the presidential primary;
c) The vote given for persons for electors of President and
Vice President of the United States;
d) All statewide measures; and,
e) The total number of ballots cast.
9)Provides that if a voting system or a part of a voting system
has been certified or conditionally approved by the SOS, it
shall not be changed or modified until the SOS has been
notified in writing and has determined that the change or
modification does not impair its accuracy and efficiency
sufficient to require a reexamination and recertification, or
conditional approval pursuant to existing law.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
California leads the country in transparent, secure,
and auditable elections. As an election protection
advocate and activist, I am proud to have done my part
to make this so. AB 2824 is the next small step in
this process - to provide information on a timely
basis that is needed by campaign managers and
initiative proponents starting on election night in a
format that they can use to verify reported results
and analyze the detail in various ways that will
satisfy them, preventing uncertainty and possibly
avoiding the need to interrupt Registrars with
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inquiries, requests for recounts and audits.
2)Electronic Results: Existing law requires a county elections
official to conduct a semifinal official canvass by tabulating
VBM and precinct ballots, compiling the results, and
transmitting the semiofficial results to the SOS in a manner
prescribed by the SOS. Specifically, a county elections
official is required to provide the SOS with results for
elections for state and federal office, and for statewide
ballot measures every two hours following the commencement of
the semiofficial canvass.
Additionally, current law requires county elections officials to
prepare a final certified statement of the results of the
election and submit it to the governing body within 30 days of
the election, as specified. Similar to semiofficial elections
results, county elections officials are also required to
provide the SOS with final elections results in an electronic
format for elections for state and federal office, and for
statewide ballot measures.
In 2013, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed AB 813
(Melendez), Chapter 112, Statutes of 2013, which additionally
required elections officials to post certified election
results on the county's Internet Website in a downloadable
spreadsheet format. Specifically, AB 813 requires county
elections officials who use a computer system that has the
capability of producing the election results in a downloadable
spreadsheet format without requiring modification of the
computer system, to post the certified statement of the
election results on the county Internet Website in a
downloadable spreadsheet format that may include, but not be
limited to, a comma-separated values file or a tab-separated
values file that is compatible with a spreadsheet software
application that is widely used at the time of the posting.
This bill expands these requirements and requires county
elections officials to post election results earlier beginning
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on election night. Specifically, this bill requires county
elections officials that have the technical capacity to do so,
to post semiofficial election results on its Internet Website
in both downloadable spreadsheet and EML formats. This bill
permits the downloadable spreadsheet to include a
comma-separated values file or a tab-separated values file
that is compatible with a spreadsheet software application
widely used at the time of the posting. However, if a county
does not have the capability to provide information in the
formats described, this bill requires county elections
officials to provide the information in whichever format it is
able.
While many counties already have the capability to post
certified elections results in this manner, the committee is
unsure if the same can be said for posting semiofficial
election results in the same manner. Moreover, this bill
requires the semiofficial results to be posted in
substantially similar format that certified election results
are posted, except that this bill also requires precinct data
for VBM ballots, provisional ballots, spoiled ballots, and any
other data readily available on the computer system to also be
posted in a downloadable spreadsheet format, as specified.
Requiring semiofficial elections results to be posted down to
the precinct level may be challenging for county elections
officials to comply with, especially the frequency at which
this bill requires this information to be posted. This bill
requires this information to be posted beginning at the end of
election night, daily through the first Friday after election
day, and thereafter, weekly on Fridays until the results are
certified in accordance with existing law. It is the
understanding of committee staff that depending on the voting
system that a county uses, a county may have to shut down its
system in order to generate the required spreadsheets and it
can take approximately 60 to 90 minutes for the spreadsheets
to be created. Some counties, however, may use an outside
vendor to create these downloadable spreadsheets and as a
result, do not need to shut down their system down and may
continue to process ballots while these reports are being
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generated. This, however, could potentially be problematic.
Because it is very common for ballot totals to change as
ballots are being processed, reconciled and so forth, these
reports will simply be a snapshot in time and will not
necessarily reflect current vote totals. Consequently,
posting the semiofficial election results may cause confusion
rather than bring transparency to election results.
Moreover, this bill requires a county, if modification to its
voting system would allow the county to comply with the
posting requirements stated above, to propose a modification
of its voting system to the SOS for approval pursuant to
existing law. Because the bill states that these posting
requirements are only required to be implemented for a county
that has the capability to do so, it is unclear when this
requirement would be implemented. If it is the author's
intent to require a county elections official to make
modifications to its voting system when a county upgrades or
purchases a new system, the committee may wish to consider
amending the bill to clarify the author's intent.
3)Duration of Posting: As mentioned above, current law requires
an elections official whose computer system has the capability
without undergoing any modification, to post the certified
statement of the results of an election on his or her Internet
Web site, in a downloadable spreadsheet format, as specified.
Additionally, existing law requires the certified statement of
the election results to be posted and maintained on the
elections official's Internet Web site for a period of at
least 10 years following the election. This bill
significantly decreases the length of time an elections
official is required to keep the certified election results
posted on his or her Web site from at least 10 years to at
least 22 months. According to advocates of the bill,
decreasing the length of time will make it consistent with
federal law which requires ballots to be stored for 22 months
after a federal election. Because committee staff has not
received any feedback to suggest that the length of time is
burdensome, the author and the committee may wish to consider
whether changing the length of time that certified elections
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results are posted and maintained on a county's Website is
prudent. Moreover, decreasing the length of time at which
certified elections results are posted online seems contrary
to the author's goal of transparency and accessibility to
elections results. Lowering the length of time to 22 months
does not even encompass the full length of an election cycle.
4)Suggested Technical Amendment: The committee staff recommends
the following technical amendment:
On page 3, in line 1, strike out "absentee ballots" and
insert "vote by mail ballots."
5)Previous Legislation: AB 813 (Melendez), Chapter 112,
Statutes of 2013, requires elections officials to post
election results on the Internet in a downloadable spreadsheet
format, as specified.
SB 29 (Correa), Chapter 618, Statutes of 2014, extended the
deadline for elections officials to prepare a certified
statement of the results of an election from 28 days after the
election to 30 days after the election, among other
provisions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Voting Rights Task Force
AB 2824
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Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094