BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 439
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Date of Hearing: July 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
SB
439 (Allen) - As Amended June 11, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 23-12
SUBJECT: Election procedures.
SUMMARY: Permits elections officials to offer conditional voter
registration at satellite offices prior to election day, as
specified. Establishes processes and procedures for the review
and approval of ballot on demand systems and electronic poll
books, as defined, for use in California elections.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Permits a county elections official to offer conditional voter
registration and provisional voting at satellite offices on
days prior to election day, in addition to election day.
2)Defines a "ballot on demand system" to mean a self-contained
system that allows users to do any of the following on an
as-needed basis:
a) Manufacture or finish ballot sheets or unfinished ballot
cards;
b) Manufacture or finish card stock; or,
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c) Finish unfinished ballot cards into ballot cards.
3)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to adopt regulations
governing the manufacture, finishing, quality standards,
distribution, and inventory control of ballot on demand
systems. Requires the SOS to approve each ballot on demand
system before deploying the system for use in California
elections.
4)Requires a ballot on demand system vendor, not later than five
working days before the SOS begins his or her initial
inspection, to disclose to the SOS in writing any known flaw
or defect in its ballot on demand system that could adversely
affect the future casting or tallying of ballots. Requires a
ballot on demand system vendor, once the system is approved by
the SOS, to notify the SOS and the affected local elections
officials in writing within two business days after it
discovers any flaw or defect in its ballot on demand system
that could adversely affect the future casting or tallying of
votes.
5)Prohibits a jurisdiction from purchasing, leasing, or
contracting for a ballot on demand system unless the ballot on
demand system has been certified by the SOS. Prohibits a
vendor, company, or person from selling, leasing, or
contracting with a jurisdiction for the use of a ballot on
demand system unless the ballot on demand system has been
certified by the SOS. Provides that a jurisdiction is not
precluded from conducting research and development of a ballot
on demand system. Prohibits a ballot on demand system that is
used for research and development purposes from being used in
an election unless the system has been certified by the SOS.
6)Requires the SOS to promulgate regulations for the purpose of
certifying ballot on demand systems.
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7)Defines an "electronic poll book" to mean an electronic list
of registered voters that may be transported to the polling
location. Requires an electronic poll book to contain the
same information that is required on the paper roster pursuant
to existing law.
8)Prohibits an electronic poll book from being used unless it
has been certified by the SOS.
9)Requires the SOS to adopt and publish electronic poll book
standards and regulations governing the certification and use
of electronic poll books. Prohibits the SOS from certifying
an electronic poll book unless it fulfills the requirements of
this bill and the SOS's standards and regulations.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides that a properly executed affidavit of voter
registration shall be deemed effective upon receipt by the
elections official if postmarked or received on or before the
15th day prior to an election to be held in the registrant's
precinct.
2)Authorizes a person who is otherwise qualified to register to
vote to complete a conditional voter registration and cast a
provisional ballot during the 14 days immediately preceding an
election or on election day, as specified.
3)Requires county elections officials to offer conditional voter
registration and provisional voting at its permanent offices,
and permits them to offer this type of registration and voting
at satellite offices on election day.
4)Specifies that conditional voter registration becomes
operative on January 1 of the year following the year in which
the SOS certifies that the state has a statewide voter
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registration database that complies with the requirements of
the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). It is
anticipated that this statewide voter database will become
operative in 2016, therefore conditional voter registration
will commence in 2017.
5)Requires the SOS to adopt regulations governing the
manufacture, finishing, quality standards, distribution, and
inventory control of ballot cards and requires the biennial
inspection of the manufacturing, finishing, and storage
facilities involving ballot cards.
6)Requires the SOS to approve each ballot card manufacturer or
finisher before a manufacturer or finisher provides ballot
cards for use in California elections.
7)Requires a ballot card manufacturer or finisher, not later
than five working days before the SOS begins his or her
initial inspection, to disclose to the SOS in writing any
known flaw or defect in its ballot card manufacturing or
finishing process or manufactured or finished ballot cards
that could adversely affect the future casting or tallying of
ballots. Requires a ballot card manufacturer or finisher,
once approved by the SOS, to notify the SOS and the affected
local elections officials in writing within two business days
after it discovers any flaw or defect in its ballot card
manufacturing or finishing process or manufactured or finished
ballot cards that could adversely affect the future casting or
tallying of votes.
8)Requires each precinct board to keep a roster of voters who
have voted at the precinct, as specified.
9)Requires an elections official to furnish to the precinct
officers, among other things, printed copies of the index to
the affidavits of registration for that precinct.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
SB 439 would allow a county elections official to offer
voter registration and voting at satellite offices during
the entire 14 days immediately preceding Election Day and
establish criteria for the use of ballot on-demand (BOD)
printing systems and electronic poll books to facilitate
this process as well as other early voting efforts.
Legislation providing for Election Day voter registration
in California was approved in 2012 but will not be
implemented in until 2017. Under this pending system
county elections officials must offer voter registration
and concurrent voting by provisional ballot to any
qualified elector at the official's office during the 14
days following the normal close of registration through
Election Day. They may also offer this convenience to
electors at satellite office locations but can only do so
on Election Day itself.
BOD printing systems are used in elections official's
offices and other locations in order to provide any voter
with his or her proper ballot regardless of the precinct to
which the voter is assigned. While some counties are
currently using BOD printing systems that have been
approved by prior Secretaries of State, current statutes
require the approval process to be conducted on a county by
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county (and location by location) basis which is very
cumbersome and serves as a disincentive for counties to
participate. For instance, if a single county wants to use
a BOD system, that county would have to seek separate
approval for each location where they anticipate usage.
Electronic poll books will ultimately permit early voting
sites and traditional polling places to be linked to state
and/or county voter databases which could be accessed for
voting integrity purposes and eventually reduce the need
for expensive and time consuming provisional balloting.
As a way of accommodating what should be an enormous number
of last-minute registrants, SB 439 will allow county
elections officials to offer voter registration and voting
at satellite offices during the entire 14 days immediately
preceding Election Day in addition to their main offices.
In order to facilitate this process more securely,
cost-effectively and make the experience quicker and more
convenient for voters, SB 439 will also establish clear
statutory authority and criteria for the use of BOD
printing systems and electronic poll books.
2)VoteCal: VoteCal is a federally required statewide voter
registration database that complies with the requirements of
HAVA. It will provide a single, uniform, centralized voter
registration database. According to the SOS's office,
VoteCal's implementation will begin with five pilot counties
in July 2015, and the remaining counties will deploy in groups
with full deployment expected in June 2016. VoteCal's many
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functions will provide improved service to the voters of
California by connecting the SOS and all 58 county elections
offices together to improve the voter registration process,
provide a publicly available website which will allow voters
to register online, and provide a single, official statewide
database of voter registration information.
3)Pending Same-Day Registration in California: In 2012, the
Legislature approved and Governor signed AB 1436 (Feuer),
Chapter 497, Statutes of 2012, which established conditional
voter registration, also known as "same-day" registration, in
California. Specifically, current law authorizes a person who
is otherwise qualified to register to vote to complete a
conditional voter registration and cast a provisional ballot
at the elections official's permanent office during the 14
days immediately preceding an election or on election day. In
addition, current law permits conditional voter registration
at elections official's satellite office on election day only.
After receiving a conditional voter registration, current law
requires an elections official to determine the registrant's
eligibility to register to vote and validate the information,
as specified. If the conditional voter registration is deemed
effective, the registrant's provisional ballot is included in
the official canvass.
According to the author, while current law requires county
elections officials to offer voter registration and concurrent
voting by provisional ballot at the official's permanent
office during the 14 days following the normal close of
registration through election day, it limits this convenience
to electors at satellite office locations to only election
day. This bill instead authorizes a county elections official
to offer conditional voter registration and provisional voting
at satellites offices on other days instead of only on
election day.
4)Election Day Voter Registration in Other States: According to
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a 2015 report by the National Conference of State Legislatures
(NCSL), 10 states and the District of Columbia offer same-day
registration, which allows any qualified resident of the state
to go to the polls or an election official's office on
election day, to register to vote that day, and cast a ballot.
Hawaii, similar to California, has enacted same-day
registration, but has not yet implemented it. According to
the report, Illinois piloted same-day registration at limited
locations during the 2014 general election and made it
permanent earlier this year, with a statewide implementation
date in June of this year.
5)Ballot on Demand Systems: A ballot on demand system is a
device that can print ballots on demand for use in elections.
In practice, ballot on demand systems are used in elections
official's offices and other locations in order to provide any
voter with his or her proper ballot regardless of the precinct
to which the voter is assigned. Proponents argue that ballot
on demand systems help reduce election administrative costs by
limiting the need to pre-print and transport ballots to
polling places.
Current law requires a ballot on demand system to be approved
using the same approval process that is in place for
commercial ballot printing operations. Consequently, a ballot
on demand system's approval process must be conducted on a
county by county (and location by location) basis. For
instance, if a single county wants to use a ballot on demand
system, that county would have to seek separate approval for
each location where they anticipate usage. According to the
author, this is very cumbersome and may serve as a
disincentive for counties to participate. According to the
SOS's website, 18 ballot on demand systems have been approved
for use in 13 counties. The counties of Butte, Sacramento,
and Santa Barbara each have two ballot on demand systems
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approved for use at different locations in their respective
counties and San Bernardino has been approved to use three
systems at three different locations within the county.
This bill makes significant changes to the current ballot on
demand approval process. First, this bill redefines what it
means to be a ballot on demand system. Specifically, this
bill defines a ballot on demand system to mean a
self-contained system that allows users to do the following on
an as-needed basis: manufacture or finish ballot sheets or
unfinished ballot cards; manufacture or finish card stock; or,
finish unfinished ballot cards into ballot cards. In
addition, instead of requiring ballot on demand systems to be
approved similar to ballot printing operations, this bill
creates a new certification and approval process for ballot on
demand systems. Specifically, this bill requires the SOS to
adopt regulations governing and certifying a ballot on demand
system for use in California elections, as specified.
Moreover, this bill requires the SOS to approve each ballot on
demand system before the system is deployed for use in an
election. Finally, this bill prohibits a jurisdiction from
purchasing and a vendor from selling a ballot on demand system
unless the system has been certified by the SOS, as specified.
1)Electronic Poll Books: An electronic poll book is an
electronic version of the traditional paper poll book which
contains a list of the registered voters in each precinct or
district. An electronic poll book typically looks like a
tablet or laptop computer and is used to more quickly and
accurately check in a voter at his or her precinct or voting
sites. Many electronic poll books have a variety of other
functionalities. For example, many electronic poll books have
the capability to allow a poll worker to look up voters from
the entire county or state, connect to a county or state voter
registration database, notify a poll worker if a voter has
already voted, allow a voter to sign in electronically,
produce turnout numbers and lists of those who have voted, and
receive immediate updates on who has voted in other voting
jurisdictions.
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In California, however, electronic poll books are in their
infancy and simply serve as an electronic list of registered
voters in the precinct or district. There are approximately
three counties (Nevada, Solano, and Humboldt) that currently
use electronic poll books on an experimental basis. According
to proponents, despite their current limited capacity,
electronic poll books are beneficial to poll workers and
voters. They provide poll workers with the ability to locate
a voter's information more quickly and accurately compared to
the traditional paper list. In addition, electronic poll
books allow poll workers to more easily redirect a voter who
is at an incorrect polling place to the correct location.
This bill breaks new ground and creates a new election-related
policy that permits a county elections official to use new
technology to assist in checking voters in at polling places
and other voting sites and sets up processes and procedures
for the review and approval of electronic poll books for use
in California elections. Specifically, this bill defines an
electronic poll book to mean an electronic list of registered
voters that may be transported to the polling location and
requires it to contain the same information that is required
on the paper roster pursuant to existing law. In addition,
this bill requires the SOS to adopt and publish electronic
poll book standards and regulations governing the
certification and use of electronic poll books and prohibits
an electronic poll book from being used unless it has been
certified by the SOS. In doing so, this bill will ensure this
technology is secure and promotes the integrity of the
election.
1)Presidential Commission on Election Administration: The
Presidential Commission on Election Administration was
established by Executive Order on March 28, 2013. Its mission
is to identify best practices in election administration and
to make recommendations to improve the voting experience. In
2014, after a six-month extensive examination of how elections
are conducted throughout the United States, the Commission
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submitted a report and recommendations to the President of the
United States. The report focused not only on the problems of
election administration for all voters, but also on the effect
of administrative failures on specific populations such as
voters with disabilities, those with limited English
proficiency, and military and overseas voters. The Commission
made various recommendations and suggested best practices.
The four main recommendations focus on voter registration,
access to the polls, polling place management, and voting
technology. Included in the polling place management
recommendation, the Commission recommended that jurisdictions
transition to using electronic poll books. Specifically, the
report stated that the electronic poll book "provides greater
flexibility to those who are checking in people to vote,
compared to the traditional paper list. In some cases, the
[electronic poll book] has real-time access to the county or
state voter list, which allows poll workers even greater
flexibility in dealing with voter registration problems that
emerge on Election Day." In addition, the report contended
that electronic poll books can "help reduce poll worker errors
frequently associated with paper-based voter check-in process"
as poll workers "sometimes fail to check-in voters, distribute
the wrong ballots, or send voters to the wrong polling place."
Moreover, the report states that electronic poll books can be
"instrumental in gathering data on wait times and traffic, as
they keep track of when voters arrive and check-in" and "save
money otherwise spent each election on the generation of
thousands of pages of voter rolls."
2)Other States: According to a 2015 NCSL report, as states
explore new technology to facilitate the voting process, the
use of electronic poll books is becoming increasingly
prevalent. According to the report, there are jurisdictions
in 32 states that currently use electronic poll books. The
report states that in some states, the use of electronic poll
books is specifically in statute. However in other states,
while electronic poll books are mentioned in statute, their
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use is not specifically authorized. Moreover, various states'
statutes do not mention electronic poll books, but have
state-level election organizations that issue regulations for
their use. Finally, according to the report a few states have
some jurisdictions that use electronic poll books, but have no
statewide guidance on their use.
As mentioned above, electronic poll books have the potential to
offer many functionalities that help reduce cost and increase
efficiencies in the conduct of elections. While California
law does not specifically address electronic poll books, in
practice, electronic poll books are being used by poll workers
as a tool to more quickly and more accurately check in voters
at polling places. This bill establishes clear statutory
authority to allow county elections officials to use
electronic poll books in elections and requires the SOS to
adopt and publish electronic poll book standards and
regulations governing the certification and use of electronic
poll books. This new policy change will ensure electronic
poll books are certified before use, thereby ensuring they
meet certain security measures and contain safeguards to
protect against fraud and manipulation.
3)Arguments in Support: In support, California Common Cause
writes:
Only 18 percent of eligible Californians cast ballots in
the June 2014 primary election - the lowest voter turnout
rate in nearly one century. There are many reasons why
Californians do not vote, including lack of voter
engagement and cynicism; however, according to a March 2015
PPIC survey, the top reason registered voters gave for not
voting was being too busy or lacking the time to vote. SB
439 will help combat the trend of ever-decreasing voter
turnout by providing citizens with more accessible and
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convenient options for registering to vote and actually
voting.
4)Related Legislation: AB 391 (Gallagher), requires a person to
provide proof of residence to conditionally register to vote,
as specified. AB 391 failed passage in this committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Common Cause
California State Council of the Service Employees International
Union
CALPIRG
Consumer Watchdog
Secretary of State Alex Padilla
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094