BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 84|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 84
Author: Hill (D), et al
Amended: 6/23/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SEN. ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 4-1, 6/16/09
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
NOES: Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-5, 6/29/09
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, Leno, Oropeza, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Cox, Denham, Runner, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 4/30/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Vote by mail ballots
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill requires elections officials to
establish procedures that allows a vote by mail (VBM) voter
to find out whether his or her VBM ballot was counted, and,
if not, the reason why the ballot was not counted.
ANALYSIS : Existing law outlines procedures for voting by
mail and establishes requirements for elections officials
to compare the signature on the VBM ballots with the
signature appearing on the affidavit of registration. If
the ballot is rejected because the signatures do not
CONTINUED
AB 84
Page
2
compare, the envelope shall not be opened and the ballot
shall not be counted. The cause of the rejection shall be
written on the face of the identification envelope.
Existing law provides that on or before March 1, 2008, the
elections official shall establish procedures to track and
confirm the receipt of VBM ballots and to make this
information available by means of online access using the
county's elections division Internet web site. If the
county does not have an elections division Internet web
site, the elections official shall establish a toll-free
telephone number that may be used to confirm the date a
voted VBM was received.
This bill requires elections officials to establish
procedures that allows a VBM voter to find out whether his
or her VBM ballot was counted, and, if not, the reason why
the ballot was not counted.
Background
The number of voters choosing to vote using a VBM ballot
has increased significantly, particularly since the
enactment of AB 1520 (Shelley), Chapter 922, Statutes of
2001, which allowed any voter to become a permanent VBM
voter. Whereas just over 25 percent of voters who
participated in the 1998 statewide primary election voted
by VBM ballot, more than 41 percent of voters who
participated in the last five statewide elections voted by
mail. These trends suggest that the number of voters
opting to vote by VBM ballot will continue to increase.
The Help America Vote Act requires counties to allow voters
who cast a provisional ballot to find out whether their
vote was counted. Counties can use the existing system
they already have in place as of March 1, 2008, to let VBM
voters know if their ballot was received by the elections
officials.
San Mateo County VBM Voters . San Mateo County implemented
a process for VBM voters to confirm if their ballot was
received at the county elections office. VBM voters can
log into the San Mateo County Elections office web site by
entering three unique identifiers and find out when the
elections office received their ballot. According to San
AB 84
Page
3
Mateo County, the cost of doing this was minimal since
county elections officials already log in VBM ballots into
their computerized elections management systems.
Prior/Related Legislation
AB 2964 (Levine), 2007-08 Session . Substantially similar
to AB 84. AB 1964 was vetoed by the Governor, though the
Governor did not express any policy objections to the bill.
Instead, AB 1964 was one of the 136 bill s that received
the same veto message as follows:
"The historic delay in passing the 2008-09 State Budget
has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk
at the end of the year's legislative session. Given
the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest
priority for California. This bill does not meet the
standard and I cannot sign it at this time."
SB 172 (Bowen), Chapter 687, Statutes of 2006 . Requires
elections officials to establish procedures by March 1,
2008, to track and confirm the receipt of voted VBM ballots
and to make this information available by online access
using the county's elections division web site, or if none
is available, by means of a toll-free telephone number.
SB 613 (Perata), Chapter 809, Statutes of 2003 . In part
requires the establishment of a free access system allowing
a voter casting a provisional ballot to confirm whether
their ballot was counted and, if not, the reason it was not
counted.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
Voter information
potentially minor reimbursable costs General*
AB 84
Page
4
*Reimbursable state local mandate
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/1/09)
Secretary of State (source)
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Common Cause
Californians for Electoral Reform
League of Women Voters
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
voting by mail has increased significantly over the past
few years as a convenient method of voting. Safeguards
built into the method of voting included requiring
elections officials to very the signature on a VBM ballot
envelope with the signature on the voter's registration
card. In some cases, a voter's signature may have changed
over time from the signature on the file as a result of age
or illness. During the signature verification proves, if
the signature on the ballot envelope does not match the
signature on file, the elections official will not count
the ballot. This bill gives VBM voters the same rights
afforded to provisional voters to find out whether their
ballot was counted, by requiring local elections officials
to inform voters whose ballots are not counted the reason
why, thus giving voters the ability to take corrective
action to ensure that VBM ballots will be counted in future
elections.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Chesbro,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, John A. Perez, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
AB 84
Page
5
Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Carter, Conway, De La Torre, Evans,
Gaines, Miller, Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth
DLW:cm 7/1/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****