BILL ANALYSIS
AB 308
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 308 (Cook) - As Introduced: February 17, 2009
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires a local elections official to prepare a
special runoff ballot-for each primary, special, or general
election for which there may be a run-off election within 90
days-and send that ballot, along with the regular absentee
ballot, to all qualified overseas voters. The special runoff
ballot shall permit the voter to indicate their order of
preference for each candidate for each office, so that the
elector's vote may be counted if there is a runoff election.
FISCAL EFFECT
The number of run-off elections held each year statewide within
the 90-day window is unknown, although several cities have such
run-offs on a biennial basis. In addition, elections to fill
vacancies in Congress and in the Legislature often result in a
runoff. There were approximately 103,000 voters for the
November 2008 election. Assuming 10% would participate in
runoff elections each year statewide, and assuming 20 special
runoff ballots could be processed and hand tabulated per hour at
staff costs averaging $100 per hour, annual state reimbursable
costs would be about $50,000. The additional cost to prepare
and disseminate special instructions for the runoff ballot would
be around $1,000 per election.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "The use of a ranked ballot
insures that the tight deadlines imposed by the two-round
runoff election format will not leave out overseas voters,
including those in the armed forces. It has already been used
successfully in Louisiana and Arkansas and was recently
AB 308
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adopted in South Carolina as well. The number of elections in
California that would be affected is relatively small,
however, every voter's right to vote is sacrosanct, and every
election is important."
2)Prior Legislation . This bill is substantially similar to AB
1662 (Cook), 2007, which was held on Suspense in Senate
Appropriations.
AB 188 (Maze)/Chapter 347 of 2003, (a) made all overseas
voters permanent absentee voters, thereby eliminating the need
for overseas military voters and other overseas voters to
request an absentee ballot for each separate election, (b)
required that all overseas voters be mailed an absentee ballot
60 days before the election, to ensure that the voter has
sufficient time to receive, complete, and return his or her
absentee ballot, and (c) allowed the elections official to
send an overseas voter his or her absentee ballot by
electronic transmission.
AB 2941 (Bates)/Chapter 821 of 2004, permits special absentee
voters who are temporarily living outside the United States to
return their ballots by facsimile transmission.
3)Opposition . The California Association of Clerks and
Elections Officials was opposed to the substantially similar
AB 1662 of 2007, citing concerns that use of the special
runoff ballot could engender much confusion among voters.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081