BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS Senator Benjamin Allen, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 163 Hearing Date: 4/21/15 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Hertzberg | |-----------+-----------------------------------------------------| |Version: |2/4/15 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Darren Chesin | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Elections: vote by mail ballot DIGEST This bill requires county elections officials to issue a vote by mail (VBM) ballot to every registered voter in the county for statewide primary, special, and general elections. ANALYSIS Existing law: 1.Requires that a VBM ballot be furnished to any registered voter upon written application to the appropriate elections official prior to the election, as specified. 2.Permits any registered voter to become a permanent VBM voter. 3.Provides that any VBM voter who is unable to surrender his or her VBM ballot shall be issued a provisional ballot at his or her polling place or from the elections official. 4.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; SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 2 of ? 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 or authorized by the state constitution under Proposition 218. 1.Authorizes a school district or city with a population of 100,000 or less to conduct an all-mail ballot election to fill a vacancy in a special election. 2.Authorizes a district to conduct any election as an all-mailed ballot election on any date other than an established election date. 3.Provides that whenever there are 250 or fewer people registered to vote in any precinct, the elections official may deem the precinct as an all-mail ballot precinct, and provides that no precinct may be divided solely in order to create an all-mail precinct. 4.Permits Yolo County and San Mateo County, as part of a pilot program lasting through January 1, 2018, to conduct elections on up to three dates as all-mailed ballot elections, subject to specified conditions, including voter education, and reporting requirements. 5.Permits San Diego County to conduct special elections to fill legislative and congressional vacancies by mailed ballot as a pilot project through 2020 subject to specified conditions, including voter education, and reporting requirements. 6.Requires elections officials to provide a sufficient number of ballots to each precinct polling place to reasonably meet the needs of the voters in that precinct on Election Day, but in no case shall that number be less than 75% of the number of registered voters in the precinct. SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 3 of ? This bill: 1.Requires, notwithstanding any other law, a county elections official to issue a VBM ballot to every registered voter in the county for statewide primary, special, and general elections. 2.Provides that this distribution of VBM ballots to all registered voters shall not prevent registered voters from exercising their right to vote at their designated precinct polling locations. 3.Makes the following findings and declarations: A. In maintaining a healthy democracy in California, it is important to encourage and ensure that the residents of the state have the tools needed to participate in every election. B. On average, in California counties 46.2% of voters receive their ballots by mail. C. Recent studies show that registered voters who automatically receive their ballots by mail are more likely to vote. D. Broadening the ability of California residents to engage in the democratic process will yield more representative election results and will ensure that the voices of more California residents are heard. BACKGROUND Statewide Voter Turnout . According to the Secretary of State, only 25.17% of all registered California voters cast a ballot in the June 3, 2014 Primary Election and only 42.20% for the November 4, 2014 General Election. Participation was especially poor in Los Angeles County where turnout of registered voters was a mere 16.97% in the Primary Election and just 31.01% for the General Election. Since over 27% of all registered voters in SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 4 of ? California reside in Los Angeles County, low turnout there has an enormous statistical impact on overall statewide turnout. Since 1960, turnout of registered voters in California non-presidential General Elections has steadily decreased from a high of 79.2% in 1966 to a previous low of 50.57% in 2002. Turnout for non-presidential Primary Elections since 1960 has also steadily decreased from a high of 68.88% in 1978 (when Proposition 13 appeared on the ballot) to a previous low of 33.31% in 2010. On average, voter turnout was poor across the entire country in 2014. According to a study by the organization Nonprofit VOTE, last year fewer than 37% of all eligible voters nationwide turned out to vote, the lowest level of voter turnout seen in a non-presidential election year since World War II. However, the study also points out that California ranked 43rd in turnout of eligible voters among the 50 states and District of Columbia at a mere 30.8%. Please note that these national figures represent eligible voters (all persons who are qualified to vote, whether registered or not) as opposed to actual registered voters, as referenced in the paragraphs above. Theories abound as to why voter participation in California was so low for both 2014 elections. One of the more popular theories among the press and other observers is that California's statewide ballot lacked the kind of high profile, competitive contest that would motivate voters to participate in greater numbers. After all, for the November 6, 2012 General Election (a presidential election featuring incumbent President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney), turnout among registered California voters was 72.36%. In fact, with the exception of the November 5, 1996 Election (65.53%), every presidential election in California since 1912 has seen turnout among registered voters over 70%. Even the "off-year" November 2, 2010 General Election which benefited from a more competitive race for Governor between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman saw turnout of registered voters over 59% -- more than 18% higher than 2014. In fact, Nonprofit VOTE's study found that voter turnout averaged 11 points higher in the 22 states with competitive statewide races for U.S. Senate or Governor compared to states without a competitive statewide race. Nine of the top ten turnout states had competitive statewide races. SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 5 of ? Nonprofit VOTE's study also found that states with Election Day Registration (EDR) far outpaced states that don't allow voters to register or fix a registration problem on Election Day. Voter turnout in the EDR States averaged 48%, 12 points above voter turnout in non-EDR states. Four states used EDR for the first time in a midterm in 2014, bringing the total number of states using EDR to 13. California is scheduled to implement EDR in 2017. Other factors such as poverty and language diversity may also contribute to California's low turnout. Poverty and limited English proficiency are common within communities that suffer from poor voter participation. VBM Popularity . California voters who use VBM ballots make up an increasingly larger portion of the overall turnout. For instance, 60.52% of all voters statewide in the November 4, 2014 General Election and 69.4% of all voters in the June 3, 2014 Primary Election used a VBM ballot - almost half of whom are permanent VBM voters. Mail Balloting in Other States . Oregon has been conducting all-mail ballot elections for non-partisan and ballot measure elections for 20 years. In 1998 Oregon expanded all-mail balloting to primary and general elections. The states of Washington and Colorado have also recently adopted statewide all-mail ballot elections. Unlike Oregon and Washington however, Colorado employs a hybrid system where every voter is mailed a ballot but numerous voting service centers are also open 10-14 days prior to each election where voters can register to vote, return their VBM ballots, and cast provisional ballots. It does not appear that any other state mails every registered voter a ballot but still maintains the traditional polling place system that this bill proposes. According to Nonprofit VOTE's study, Colorado ranked 3rd, Oregon 5th, and Washington 18th nationwide in voter turnout for the 2014 General Election. COMMENTS 1.According to the author : SB 163 will give Californians and their families greater freedom to vote. Voters who want to vote at the polling place will still be able to, and all SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 6 of ? registered voters who find it more convenient to vote by mail can do so. Having ballots in the hands of every voter will empower communities to have conversations about candidates and ballot measures and will strengthen individual voters' connection with their elected government. Individuals and families will be able to continue the tradition of instilling the values of civic engagement not just at the polling place, but also in the days and weeks leading up to election day with their ballots at home. In maintaining a healthy democracy in California, it is important that the residents of the state have the tools they need to participate in every election. Broadening the ability of Californians to engage in the democratic process will yield more representative election results and ensure that the voices of more California residents are heard. In November 2014, Californians turned out to vote in astonishingly low numbers. Just 31 percent of registered voters in Los Angeles County voted compared to a statewide average of just 42 percent. Overall, roughly seven and a half million Californians voted in an election that will affect all 38 million residents. Of all eligible voters statewide, just 30.94 percent participated in the November election. In Contrast, Sierra County, one of two entirely vote-by-mail counties in California, saw a 73 percent turnout rate of registered voters - a full 31 points higher than the state average. 2.No Voter Education . There may be adequate time to educate voters regarding the changes proposed by this bill prior to the next statewide election in June, 2016 however, this bill contains no provisions to actually require that the state or counties conduct any such voter education efforts. AB 1873 (Gonzalez), Chapter 598, Statutes of 2014 which enacted the aforementioned San Diego County pilot project for all-mail special elections contained specific voter education and outreach requirements including programs specifically intended for voters with limited English proficiency. 3.Voter Confusion . This bill requires that every voter be issued a VBM ballot for statewide primary, special, and SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 7 of ? general elections but does not affect local elections which may not be consolidated with those state elections. This may cause significant confusion since voters will automatically receive a VBM ballot for some elections but not others. 4.Fewer Poll Voters, Same Rules . Current law requires that precincts generally contain no more than 1,000 registered voters and polling places must have enough ballots to accommodate at least 75% of its voters. This bill requires that every voter be issued a VBM ballot for specified elections but does not make any corresponding changes to the number of polling places required or the number of ballots required to be furnished at those polling places for those elections. It is probably safe to assume that for the elections affected by this bill there will be significantly fewer voters visiting the polls but elections officials will not be permitted to make any changes in anticipation of this reduction. 5.More Provisional Ballots . Since voters will automatically receive a VBM ballot they did not request, it is also probably safe to assume that many of them will visit their polling places and fail to bring their VBM ballot with them. Under current law, these voters will be required to cast a provisional ballot. This may be another source of confusion for voters and would increase the number of provisional ballots and provisional ballot envelopes needed. Provisional ballots are costlier and require more time to process than regular ballots. 6.Conforming Changes . This bill makes no conforming changes to other affected sections of the Elections Code, including, but not limited to, VBM and permanent VBM application procedures and applicable VBM deadlines. RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION AB 413 (Yamada), Chapter 187, Statutes of 2011, created a pilot program allowing Yolo County to conduct local elections on not more than three dates as all-mailed ballot elections. AB 1873 (Gonzalez), Chapter 598, Statutes of 2014 created a pilot program permitting San Diego County to conduct special elections to fill legislative and congressional vacancies by SB 163 (Hertzberg) Page 8 of ? mailed ballot through 2020 subject to specified conditions, including voter education, and reporting requirements. AB 2028 (Mullin), Chapter 209, Statutes of 2014 added San Mateo County to the Yolo County pilot program. AB 547 (Gonzalez), which is pending in the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, would expand the San Diego pilot program to include other specified local elections. POSITIONS Sponsor: Author Support: California Professional Firefighters California Council of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Sierra Club California Stonewall Democratic Club Oppose: None received -- END --