BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 84
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 84 (Hill, Adams, and Lieu)
          As Amended  June 23, 2009
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |70-0 |(April 30,      |SENATE: |26-13|(August 24,    |
          |           |     |2009)           |        |     |2009)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:   E. & R.

          SUMMARY  :  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 it  
          was not counted.  

           The Senate amendments  make a technical amendment which is  
          consistent with the Assembly actions.

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill was substantially similar  
          to the version passed by the Senate.
           
          FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee, potentially minor reimbursable costs.

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, "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 verify the signature  
          on a vote by mail (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 file  
          as a result of age or illness.  During the signature  
          verification process, if the signature on the ballot envelope  
          does not match the signature on file, the elections official  
          will not count the ballot.

          "AB 84 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.  For instance, San Mateo  
          County implemented a process for VBM voters to confirm if their  








                                                                  AB 84
                                                                  Page  2

          ballot was received at the county elections office.  VBM voters  
          can log into the San Mateo County Elections office website by  
          entering three unique identifiers and find out when the  
          elections office received their ballot.  According to San Mateo  
          County, the cost of doing this was minimal since county  
          elections officials already log in VBM ballots into their  
          computerized elections management systems."  


           Analysis Prepared by :    Qiana Charles / E. & R. / (916)  
          319-2094 


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