BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 163 (Hertzberg) - Elections: Vote by mail ballots
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|Version: February 4, 2015 |Policy Vote: E. & C.A. 4 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 4, 2015 |Consultant: Maureen Ortiz |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 163 requires county election officials to issue a
vote by mail (VBM) ballot to every registered voter in the
county for statewide primary, special and general elections.
Fiscal
Impact:
Unknown, potentially $11 million - $ 34 million per statewide
election for mailing VBM ballots (General Fund)
Unknown, several million dollars per statewide election for
processing provisional ballots (General Fund)
The number of registered voters in California as of September
2014 was over 17.6 million. Of that number, about 60% of the
voters registered to vote by mail. The counties estimate costs
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ranging from $1.61 to $4.94 for each VBM ballot for mailing
expenses. Therefore, a requirement to mail a ballot to voters
who were not registered as a VBM voter (approximately 7 million
voters), would result in costs ranging between $11 million and
$34 million for each statewide election. These costs constitute
a reimbursable mandate and will be paid from the General Fund.
Additionally, there will be an increase in the costs associated
with processing provisional ballots when recipients of the VBM
ballot choose instead to vote at the polling place and do not
take their VBM ballot. Those costs are estimated at $3.60 for
each provisional ballot.
Background: Existing law authorizes any registered voter in California to
vote by mail, and to become a permanent VBM voter. Any VBM
voter may also vote at a polling place and is issued a
provisional ballot to do so. Existing law also permits an
election to be conducted wholly by mail if the governing body
authorizes the use of mailed ballots for the election providing
that certain conditions are met such as:
a) The election has no more than 1,000 registered voters
who are eligible to participate;
b) The election is 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) The election is on the issuance of a general obligation
water bond;
d) The election is in one of four specifically enumerated
water districts; or,
e) It is for an election or assessment ballot proceeding
required or authorized by the state constitution under
Proposition 218.
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Additionally, current law authorizes a number of other elections
to be held wholly by mail such as a school district or city with
a population of 100,000 or less for a special election to fill a
vacancy, or instances where there are 250 or fewer people
registered in a precinct. Additionally, a pilot program permits
the counties of Yolo and San Mateo, through January 1, 2018, to
conduct up to three all-mail elections subject to specified
conditions including voter education and reporting. San Diego
County is authorized through 2020 to conduct all mail elections
for special elections to fill legislative and congressional
vacancies.
Proposed Law:
SB 163 will require a county elections official to issue a
VBM ballot to every registered voter in the county for statewide
primary, special, and general elections. The bill provides that
the distribution of VBM ballots to all registered voters does
not prevent a registered voter from exercising their right to
vote at their designated precinct polling location.
SB 163 contains Legislative Findings and Declarations that
encouraging residents to participate in every election assists
in maintaining a healthy democracy in California, and will yield
more representative election results.
Staff
Comments: 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% in 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 California
reside in Los Angeles County, low turnout there has an enormous
statistical impact on overall statewide turnout.
Since 1960, the 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.
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Additionally, the 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.
The number of California voters who use VBM ballots increases
every year. At the June 3, 2014 primary election 69.4% of all
voters used a VBM ballot, and 60.52% of voters used a VBM ballot
in the November 4, 2014 statewide general election.
Staff notes that while SB 163 requires every voter to receive a
VBM ballot, it does not allow for the adjustment of the existing
polling place requirements. 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. Therefore, counties will not realize any
reduction in precinct costs even if every voter receives a VBM
ballot.
While smaller counties may be able to eliminate certain expenses
by allowing the consolidated mailings of the sample ballot and
the VBM ballot, most counties have expressed concerns over the
logistics of doing this such as limited ballot printers and
mailers, the size of the VBM ballots and sample ballots, as well
as procedural and deadline differences between the VBM and
sample ballots.
For instance, in a large election it may not be possible to use
existing mailing equipment since a county could have 400 ballot
styles containing a large number of candidates and measures
which would prohibit the addition of another insert. Mailing the
VBM and sample ballots together may require a redesign of the
envelope and packet so that the designated polling place is
visible, and could result in a delay in the mailings.
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