BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 439| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 439 Author: Allen (D) Amended: 8/31/15 Vote: 21 SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-1, 4/21/15 AYES: Allen, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu NOES: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/11/15 AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza NOES: Bates, Nielsen SENATE FLOOR: 23-12, 5/18/15 AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, De León, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Roth, Wieckowski, Wolk NOES: Anderson, Bates, Fuller, Gaines, Huff, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Runner, Stone, Vidak NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Cannella, Hall, Pavley ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 54-23, 9/3/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Election procedures SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill permits county elections officials to offer conditional voter registration and provisional voting at satellite offices during the entire 14 days immediately preceding Election Day and establishes criteria for the certification and use of ballot on demand printing systems and electronic poll books. SB 439 Page 2 Assembly Amendments add language to establish criteria for the certification and use of electronic poll books. ANALYSIS: 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)Provides for conditional voter registration whereby a qualified person may register to vote after the 15th day prior to an election or on Election Day, and cast a provisional ballot which will be counted if the conditional voter registration is deemed effective. 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, as described above, becomes operative on January 1 of the year following the year in which the Secretary of State (SOS) certifies that the state has a statewide voter 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 also approve each ballot card manufacturer SB 439 Page 3 or finisher before a manufacturer or finisher provides ballot cards for use in California elections. 7)Requires each precinct board to keep a roster of voters who have voted at the precinct, as specified. 8)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. This bill: 1)Permits county elections officials to offer conditional voter registration and provisional voting at satellite offices after the 15th day prior to an election through and including Election Day. 2)Requires the SOS to adopt regulations for purposes of certifying ballot on demand systems and requires the SOS to approve each ballot on demand system before the system is deployed for use in California elections. 3)Prohibits a jurisdiction from purchasing, leasing, or contracting for, and a vendor, company, or person from selling, leasing, or contracting with a jurisdiction for, a ballot on demand system unless the ballot on demand system has been certified by the SOS. 4)Defines "ballot on demand system" as a self-contained system that allows users to do any of the following on an as-needed basis: a) Manufacture and finish card stock. b) Finish unfinished ballot cards into ballot cards. SB 439 Page 4 5)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 following information for each voter: name; address; precinct; party preference; whether or not the voter has been issued a vote by mail ballot; and, whether or not the vote by mail ballot has been recorded as received by the elections official. 6)Prohibits an electronic poll book from being used unless it has been certified by the SOS. 7)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. Background Pending Election Day registration in California. AB 1436 (Feuer, Chapter 497, Statutes of 2012) provided for Election Day voter registration in California but it will not be implemented until 2017, following the certification of VoteCal, the new HAVA-compliant statewide voter database. While AB 1436 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 itself. Ballot on demand systems. Ballot on demand 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 ballot on demand printing systems that have been approved by prior SOS, current statutes require the approval process to be conducted on a SB 439 Page 5 county by 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 ballot on demand system, that county would have to seek separate approval for each location where they anticipate usage. 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. Comments 1)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. SB 439 Page 6 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 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. Related/Prior Legislation AB 1436 (Feuer, Chapter 497, Statutes of 2012). See "Background" above, for a description. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the SOS would incur ongoing General Fund costs of about $90,000 for one position related to promulgating the regulations and testing and SB 439 Page 7 certification of ballot on demand systems and electronic poll books. SUPPORT: (Verified9/3/15) Secretary of State Alex Padilla California Association of Clerks and Election Officials California Common Cause California Public Interest Research Group California State Council of the Service Employees International Union League of Women Voters of California Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors OPPOSITION: (Verified9/3/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 54-23, 9/3/15 AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Atkins NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Linder, Olsen Prepared by:Darren Chesin / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106 9/3/15 18:47:41 SB 439 Page 8 **** END ****