BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 450| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 450 Author: Allen (D) and Hertzberg (D), et al. Amended: 8/18/16 Vote: 21 PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-1, 8/25/16 (Pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10) AYES: Allen, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu NOES: Anderson ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 47-31, 8/23/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Elections: vote by mail voting and mail ballot elections SOURCE: Secretary of State Alex Padilla DIGEST: This bill permits counties to conduct elections in which every voter is mailed a ballot and vote centers and ballot drop-off locations are available prior to and on election day, in lieu of operating polling places for the election, subject to certain conditions. Assembly Amendments (1) delete the prior version of this bill and instead permit specified counties beginning in 2018, and all other counties beginning in 2020, to conduct elections in which every voter is mailed a ballot and vote centers and ballot drop-off locations are available prior to and on election day, in lieu of operating polling places for the election, subject to certain conditions; and (2) permit Los Angeles County, beginning in 2020 and for a period of not more than four years, to conduct elections in which vote centers and ballot drop-off locations SB 450 Page 2 are available prior to and on election day, in lieu of operating polling places for the election, subject to certain conditions. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Allows any voter to receive a vote by mail (VBM) ballot for an election. Allows a voter who wishes to receive a VBM ballot for every election in which that voter is eligible to vote to become a permanent VBM voter. 2)Allows local elections held on no more than three different dates in Monterey, Sacramento, San Mateo, and Yolo counties to be conducted wholly by mail, as part of a pilot project lasting through January 1, 2018, subject to certain conditions. 3)Permits San Diego County, as part of a pilot program lasting through January 1, 2021, to conduct a special election to fill a vacancy in the Legislature or in Congress as an all-mailed ballot election, subject to certain conditions and reporting requirements. This bill: 1)Permits the counties of Calaveras, Inyo, Madera, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sierra, Sutter, and Tuolumne, on or after January 1, 2018, and all other counties, on or after January 1, 2020, to choose to conduct elections where all voters are mailed a ballot and where vote centers and ballot drop-off locations are available prior to and on election day, in lieu of operating polling places for the election, subject to the following conditions: a) Vote Centers. Requires vote centers to be open, in lieu SB 450 Page 3 of polling places, on election day, and for the 10 days prior to election day. Requires, for regularly scheduled elections, one vote center for every 50,000 registered voters from the 10th day to the 4th day prior to the election, and one vote center for every 10,000 registered voters from the 3rd day prior to the election through election day, with no fewer than two vote centers. Requires, for special elections, one vote center for every 60,000 registered voters from the 10th day to the day prior to the election, and one vote center for every 30,000 registered voters on election day, as specified. Specifies minimum hours of operation at vote centers. Requires that a voter be able to return a VBM ballot, register to vote, and vote at any vote center in the voter's county of residence. Requires vote centers to be accessible to voters with disabilities, and requires language assistance to be provided at vote centers consistent with current state and federal law. b) VBM Ballots and Return. Requires all registered voters to be mailed ballots and requires ballot drop-off locations, consisting of a secure, accessible, locked ballot box, to be available from the 28th day before the election through election day, as specified. Requires a ballot drop-off location for every 15,000 registered voters. c) Election Administration. Requires county elections officials to develop a plan for conducting elections, and specifies the elements of the plan, including voter education and outreach, and the public process for developing the plan. Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to review and approve the voter education and outreach portions of the plan. d) Requires a toll-free voter assistance hotline, accessible to voters who are deaf and hard of hearing, maintained by the county elections official that is operational no later than 29 days before the day of the SB 450 Page 4 election until 5 p.m. on the day after the election. Requires the hotline to provide assistance to voters in all languages in which the county is required to provide voting materials and assistance, as specified. e) Requires the county elections official to establish a Language Access Advisory Committee and a Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee, as specified. f) Permits a county to conduct a special election as an all-mailed ballot election under this bill, as specified. 2)Los Angeles County Alternative. Permits Los Angeles County, beginning January 1, 2020, to conduct elections subject to the same conditions that are generally applicable above, with the following exceptions: a) The county is not required to mail a ballot to every registered voter, but is required to mail ballots to permanent VBM voters, voters in precincts with fewer than 500 registered voters, voters in jurisdictions that are shared with counties that are conducting elections pursuant to this bill, and voters in precincts that are either more than a 30-minute travel time from a vote center, or where the precinct's polling place from the last statewide election is more than 15 miles from the nearest vote center. b) Requires, for regularly scheduled elections, one vote center for every 30,000 registered voters from the 10th day to the 4th day prior to the election, and one vote center for every 7,500 registered voters from the 3rd day prior to the election through election day. Additionally requires a vote center to be located in every city within the county that has at least 1,000 registered voters. Requires at SB 450 Page 5 least one drop-off location for every 15,000 permanent VBM voters, with no fewer than two drop-off locations, as specified. c) Provides that the county may conduct elections under this alternative for no more than four years, and allows the county to conduct elections as otherwise provided in this bill after that time. 3)Requires the SOS to report specified information to the Legislature within six months of any election conducted pursuant to this bill and establish a task force to review these elections and to provide recommendations to the Legislature. 4)Allows a VBM ballot to be returned to any polling place within the state, instead of being limited to polling places within the jurisdiction of the elections official who issued the ballot. 5)Contains double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems with AB 1921 (Gonzalez). Background Colorado Model of Elections. As noted in the author's statement below, the provisions of this bill are modeled after the way that Colorado conducts its elections. The essence of Colorado's elections system is that voters may choose to vote at home using a ballot that is mailed to them, or may visit any of the several vote centers within their home county on election day, or on the days leading up to election day, including weekends. Technical Requirements for Vote Centers. Because voters have SB 450 Page 6 the option of casting a ballot at any vote center in the county, vote centers need to have a system that can provide any eligible voter in the county with the appropriate ballot. While smaller counties that have fewer ballot styles may be able to accommodate that need using pre-printed paper ballots, vote centers in larger jurisdictions likely will feature electronic voting systems that are pre-loaded with all the ballot types in the county, or ballot-on-demand printers that can produce the appropriate paper ballots as needed. Additionally, in order to verify the registration of voters, determine the correct ballot type for each voter, and ensure that a voter has not already cast a ballot, vote centers must have a mechanism to verify voter registration information. In most jurisdictions, this requirement is likely to be met through the use of electronic poll books that can communicate with the voter registration database in real-time. Comments According to the author, California saw historically low voter turnout in 2014. Only 25 percent of all registered California voters cast a ballot in the June primary and only 42 percent participated in the November general election. Los Angeles County - the largest voting jurisdiction in the country - had the lowest turnout among all of California's 58 counties. Fewer than 17 percent of Los Angeles County voters cast a ballot in the June primary and only 31 percent voted in November. While voter turnout was poor across the entire country in 2014, California ranked an inexcusable 43rd in turnout among the 50 states and District of Columbia. Since 1960 turnout of registered voters in California off-year general elections has steadily decreased from a high of 79 percent in 1966 to a previous low of 50.5 percent in 2002. Turnout for off-year primary elections since 1960 has also steadily decreased from a high of almost 69 percent in 1978 - when Proposition 13 appeared on the ballot - to a previous low of 33 percent in 2010. SB 450 is modeled on the very successful way Colorado SB 450 Page 7 conducts its elections wherein every voter automatically receives a VBM ballot who may then return that ballot by mail or in person at numerous drop-off locations and innovative vote centers. In lieu of traditional neighborhood polling places, these vote centers are placed in convenient locations all over town and open several days prior to each election. Furthermore, voters can use any vote center or drop-off location in their home county - they are not limited to using the one closest to their residence. At the vote centers, voters can register to vote, cast a vote, or get a new ballot if they lost or damaged their mail ballot. They are also equipped with accessible voting machines for disabled voters and electronic poll books that interact with the official voter database. Fully implemented for the 2014 elections, this hybrid system resulted in Colorado achieving one of the highest voter turnouts in the nation. SB 450 will replicate this system in California on a county by county, opt-in basis beginning in 2018. The language of SB 450 was painstakingly developed with the input of the SOS, county elections officials, and numerous advocates representing all facets of California's very diverse electorate. This effort is evident in the unprecedented lengths to which the bill goes toward accommodating non-English proficient voters and voters with accessibility needs as well as requiring extensive community involvement and voter education. A majority of our voters are already casting ballots by mail. During the November, 2014 General Election over 60 percent of all voters statewide used a VBM ballot. Use of mail ballots in local and special elections is even higher. Furthermore, a recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 70 percent of California adults favor sending every registered voter a VBM ballot. SB 450 offers the best opportunity to significantly increase voter participation while also saving SB 450 Page 8 participating counties money over the current system. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)The SOS will incur ongoing General Fund costs of about $280,000 for three positions to review and approve county voter education and outreach plans, provide technical support for election equipment at vote centers, which will be connected to the statewide voter registration database (VoteCal), conduct demographic analysis of election data, and staff the SOS task force. 2)Initial costs to participating counties will likely be significant, but in many cases will result in long-term cost savings. Since the bill is permissible, any county costs will not be state reimbursable. SUPPORT: (Verified8/25/16) Secretary of State Alex Padilla (source) American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO California Association of Clerks and Election Officials California Association of Nonprofits California Common Cause California Foundation for Independent Living Centers California League of Conservation Voters California Nurses Association California Public Interest Research Group California State Association of Counties California Transit Association City Clerks Association of California SB 450 Page 9 Consumer Watchdog Courage Campaign Equality California League of Women Voters of California Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors NARAL Pro-Choice California Next Gen Climate Action Rural County Representatives of California San Fernando Valley Young Democrats San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Service Employees International Union Sierra Club California Urban Counties of California OPPOSITION: (Verified8/25/16) Department of Finance Election Integrity Project Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 47-31, 8/23/16 AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Rendon NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Chávez, Dababneh, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Salas, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Gray, Lopez Prepared by:Darren Chesin / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106 8/25/16 17:30:41 SB 450 Page 10 **** END ****