BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 330|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 330
Author: Saldana (D), et al
Amended: 6/16/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 3-2, 7/7/09
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu
NOES: Walters, Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/26/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: voting devices
SOURCE : Secretary of State Debra Bowen
DIGEST : This bill requires the county elections official
to provide at least a five-day public notice of the time
and place of the scheduled tests or programming of
tabulating devices. This bill makes representative
attendance subject to existing law.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires the elections official, not later than seven
days prior to each election, to conduct a test or series
of tests to ensure that every device used to tabulate
CONTINUED
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ballots accurately records each vote. Provides that the
exact methods employed in such tests shall conform to
voting procedures for the voting systems as adopted by
the Secretary of State.
2. Permits each qualified political party, any bona fide
association of citizens, and any media organization to
employ, and have present at the central counting place
or places, not more than two representatives to check
and review the preparation and operation of the
tabulating devices, their programming and testing, and
have the representatives in attendance at any or all
phases of the election. Allows the elections official
to limit the total number of representatives employed by
all bona fide associations of citizens and media
organizations to no more than 10 by a manner in which
each association or organization has an equal
opportunity to participate.
3. Requires the elections official to manually tally the
ballots cast in one percent of precincts at any election
in which a voting system is used. Requires the
elections official to provide at least a five-day public
notice of the time and place of that manual tally.
This bill:
1. Requires the county elections official to provide at
least a five-day public notice of the time and place of
the following:
A. Testing conducted on ballot tabulating devices
prior to an election to ensure that the tabulating
devices accurately record votes.
B. Preparation and operation of the tabulating
devices and the programming and testing of those
devices.
2. Permits the county elections official to limit
attendance of representatives at such tests,
preparations, and operations to no more than 10
representatives, provided that representatives of
political parties are not subject to the limitation.
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Prior legislation . Late in the 2007-08 Session, AB 643
(Brownley) was amended in the Senate to contain language
that is substantially similar to this bill. After AB 643
was amended, it was re-referred to the Senate Rules
Committee and was not heard or voted on prior to the
adjournment of the session.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/20/09)
Secretary of State Debra Bowen(source)
Orange County Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION : (Verified 7/20/09)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The
purpose of having a public review process is to ensure that
interested parties and citizens have the opportunity to
observe vote tabulating devices that our elections depend
on for accuracy and reliability. By requiring that
elections officials notify the public five days in advance
of when the testing of the devices will take place, AB 330
protects the intent of current law by ensuring that members
of the public will be provided adequate notice to observe
an important aspect of the voting process."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance
states: "While the intent of this bill is to improve
integrity in our elections procedures, the Department of
Finance is opposed to this bill for the following reasons:
[1] The bill could create a reimbursable mandate of unknown
costs resulting in additional General Fund obligations.
[2] The bill is unnecessary because nothing prohibits
interested parties from inquiring about the specific dates
for testing or programming of tabulation devices. [3] Some
counties already provide notices on their websites and
indicate that there is not significant turnout to observe
the tests and programming of tabulating devices."
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Gilmore, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: DeVore, Duvall, Garrick, Bass
DLW:mw 7/20/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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