BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 46|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 46
Author: Monning (D)
Amended: 6/14/10 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
PRIOR SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Elections: official canvass: manual tally
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : Senate Floor Amendments of 6/14/10 delete the
prior version of the bill relating to energy. This bill
now permits the Counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San
Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara to conduct separate
post-election manual tallies of one percent of the polling
place ballots and the mailed ballots for the June 8
statewide primary election as well as the special primary
and run-off elections to fill the vacancy in Senate
District 15.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires, during the official
canvass of an election in which a voting system is used,
the official conducting the election to conduct a public
manual tally of the ballots tabulated by those devices,
including vote by mail (VBM) voters' ballots, cast in one
percent of the precincts chosen at random by the elections
official.
CONTINUED
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This bill authorizes an official who conducts an election
in San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Santa
Clara County, or Santa Cruz County that takes place on June
8, 2010, June 22, 2010, or August 17, 2010, to conduct a
public manual tally by alternative means than those
described above. Specifically, this bill permits the
official conducting the election to conduct a separate
manual tally of the ballots cast in one percent of the
precincts chosen at random by the elections official and a
separate manual tally of no less than one percent of the
VBM ballots cast in the election.
Background
On April 27, 2010, the Governor issued a proclamation
setting August 17, 2010 as the date for a special runoff
election to fill the vacancy in Senate District 15 which
was created when former Senator Abel Maldonado was sworn in
as Lieutenant Governor. Pursuant to current law, the
special primary election was scheduled for June 22, 2010,
just two weeks after the regular statewide primary election
on June 8, 2010.
Concerns over the cost associated and required man power
required to conduct two June elections prompted the Senate
District 15 counties to work with the Office of the
Secretary of State to develop a proposal that will improve
the ability of the counties to manage this compacted
election schedule. The change proposed by this bill
provides a simpler process for the post election manual
tally conducted on VBM ballots only.
Counties currently have to manually tally a portion of
these ballots but must first sort them by precinct. By
allowing the counties to conduct separate manual tallies
for polling place and VBM ballots, elections officials will
not have to conduct the labor intensive and lengthy sorting
process.
Comments
According to supporters of this bill, existing law ensures
that VBMs are included in the one percent manual tally.
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For many counties sorting the VBMs into the precincts
before the tally is a time consuming process, especially
given the growth in VBMs. This bill permits the counties
that make up Senate District 15 to conduct two separate one
percent tallies for the June 8, June 22, and June 17
elections each election. One tally would be for the
precinct ballots, the other would be for the VBMs. The
Senate District 15 special vacancy elections are estimated
to have significant costs to the counties involved. This
bill will save hundreds of hours in staff time during the
three elections and allow the registrars' staffs to
complete the certification of the elections in the short
time allotted for that process. This simple change in
procedure will not affect the purpose of the manual tally.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
DLW:mw 6/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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