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
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|Author: |Hertzberg |
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|Version: |2/4/15 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Darren Chesin |
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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;
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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