BILL ANALYSIS
AB 780
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 780 (John Perez) - As Amended: April 15, 2009
SUBJECT : Elections: failsafe ballots.
SUMMARY : Allows a voter who is away from his or her precinct
on election day, due to unforeseen circumstances, to cast a
provisional ballot in a jurisdiction other than where the voter
resides. Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits a qualified voter who, due to unforeseen
circumstances, has been forced to leave the jurisdiction where
he or she is registered to vote and is unable to request a
vote by mail ballot, to vote a failsafe ballot for any
statewide office or question appearing on the ballot.
2)Defines "failsafe ballot" as a provisional ballot with which
the voter may vote only for candidates for statewide office
and measures appearing on the ballot.
3)Requires a voter to meet the following criteria in order to
vote a failsafe ballot in a county other than the one in which
he or she is registered to vote:
a) The voter must declare, under penalty of perjury, that
he or she is a registered voter residing in the State of
California.
b) Unforeseen circumstances must have arisen precluding the
voter from casting his or her ballot in the jurisdiction
where he or she is registered to vote.
c) The circumstances precluding the voter from casting a
ballot in his or her residential jurisdiction arose
suddenly, without warning after the period in which the
voter could have requested a vote by mail ballot has
passed, and the voter did not request a vote by mail ballot
or the voter requested a vote by mail ballot but the ballot
never arrived or arrived too late to be returned and
included in the statement of the vote.
4)Requires the county clerk, registrar of voters, or county
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elections officials to prepare and distribute forms containing
the following statement: "I declare under penalty of perjury
that I am a registered voter in the State of California and
that I meet the criteria necessary to vote a failsafe ballot."
Requires the form to include a description of the criteria
necessary for a voter to exercise the option of voting a
failsafe ballot, the address where the voter is registered,
and a signature line for the voter to attest to his or her
eligibility.
5)Requires the failsafe ballot and statement of qualifications
be enclosed in a provisional ballot envelope for transmittal
to the appropriate jurisdiction.
6)Requires the county clerk, registrar of voters, or county
elections official to transmit both the ballot and the
statement of qualifications to the jurisdiction where the
voter resides to be included in that jurisdiction's official
statement of the vote. Provides that the voted failsafe
ballot shall be transmitted within one week of the election.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes procedures for a voter claiming to be properly
registered but whose qualification or entitlement to vote
cannot be immediately established upon examination of the
index of registration for the precinct or upon examination of
the records on file with the county elections official, to
vote a provisional ballot as follows:
a) An elections official shall advise the voter of the
voter's right to cast a provisional ballot.
b) The voter shall be provided a provisional ballot,
written instructions regarding the process and procedures
for casting the provisional ballot, and a written
affirmation regarding the voter's registration and
eligibility to vote.
c) The voter shall be required to execute, in the presence
of an elections official, the written affirmation stating
that the voter is eligible to vote and registered in the
county where the voter desires to vote.
d) During the official canvass, the elections official
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shall examine the records with respect to all provisional
ballots cast. Using the procedures that apply to the
comparison of signatures on vote by mail ballots, the
elections official shall compare the signature on each
provisional ballot envelope with the signature on the
voter's affidavit of registration. If the signatures do
not compare, the ballot shall be rejected.
e) Provisional ballots shall not be included in any
semiofficial or official canvass, except upon: (A) the
elections official's establishing prior to the completion
of the official canvass, from the records in his or her
office, the claimant's right to vote; or (B) the order of a
superior court in the county of the voter's residence.
f) If the ballot cast by the voter contains candidates or
measures on which the voter would not have been entitled to
vote in his or her assigned precinct, the elections
official shall count only the votes for the candidates and
measures on which the voter was entitled to vote in his or
her assigned precinct.
2)Provides that after the close of the period for requesting
vote by mail ballots by mail, any voter unable to go to the
polls because of illness or disability resulting in his or her
confinement in a hospital, sanatorium, nursing home, or place
of residence, or any voter unable because of physical handicap
to go to his or her polling place, or any voter unable to go
to his or her polling place because of conditions resulting in
his or her absence from the precinct on election day may
request in a written statement, signed under penalty of
perjury that a ballot be delivered to him or her. Requires
this ballot to be delivered by the elections official to any
authorized representative of the voter who presents this
written statement to the elections official.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
a crimes and infractions disclaimer; contains reimbursement
direction.
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COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
AB 780 is intended to continue the series of laws which
have made voting as easy as possible in California. Under
current law, voters may request an absentee or vote by mail
ballot for any reason provided they make the request within
the allotted timeframe set forth in law.
Voters who are mistakenly left off the voter rolls on
Election Day are entitled to cast a provisional ballot and
have their eligibility established after the fact, ensuring
that all voters within a county are able to cast a vote and
have it counted, provided they are a qualified elector.
However, voters who are unable to be in their county of
registration on Election Day, whether they had to leave due
to unforeseen circumstances or whether they had the
foreknowledge they would be gone and requested a vote by
mail ballot which never arrived have no recourse.
Under the current law, if the voter attempted to cast a
provisional ballot in a county wherein they were not
registered that ballot would not be counted. AB 780
addresses this problem by allowing California voters the
option of voting in statewide contests (President and
United States Senate, California's Constitutional statewide
officers and statewide ballot measures) and have that
ballot counted in their home county. This measure will
enfranchise those Californians who, through no fault of
their own, would otherwise be unable to participate in the
electoral process.
2)Concerns Expressed : The Secretary of State, who has taken a
support if amended position, writes:
I whole-heartedly support the goal of your AB 780, which
allows a registered voter to vote an out-of-county
provisional ballot if they find themselves out of the
county where they are registered to vote on Election Day.
However, I'm concerned about some of the unintended
consequences if the measure were to become law as written.
I believe these concerns can be easily addressed and should
you agree to amend the bill, I would be delighted to
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support the measure.
First, I am concerned about the bill's requirement that in
order to vote an out-of-county provisional ballot, the
voter would have to sign under penalty of perjury that
unforeseen circumstances have arisen that preclude them
from casting a ballot in the county were they are
registered to vote. California has had a no-excuse
vote-by-mail process since 1978, a no-excuse permanent
vote-by-mail process since 2002, and a no-excuse in county
provisional voting process since 1994. I believe amending
AB 780 to provide for no-excuse out-of-county provisional
voting will serve voters better as well as be easier and
cheaper for county elections officials and thousands of
poll workers to administer on Election Day.
Second, AB 780 would only allow voters to cast an
out-of-county provisional ballot for people running for
statewide office or for any statewide proposition appearing
on the ballot. Unfortunately, this would preclude these
voters from casting a ballot for President and U.S.
Senator, as well as in any race that appears on the ballot
both in the county where they may be attempting to vote and
the county where they are registered to vote. Under the
current in-county provisional balloting law, a voter can
vote in every race on the ballot, but only their votes in
those races that they would be entitled to vote on, had
they been voting in their home precinct, are counted. That
same standard should apply to out-of-county provisional
voters as well, so a registered voter who, for example,
lives in the L.A. County portion of the 59th Assembly
District but finds him or herself at a polling place in the
San Bernardino County portion of the 59th Assembly District
on Election Day can cast a vote for a candidate in that
race and have that vote be counted.
3)Related Legislation : AB 1440 (Swanson), which passed this
committee on April 21, 2009, will allow emergency service
workers to vote a special provisional ballot that contains
statewide measures and candidates for statewide office if they
are responding to a state of emergency. AB 1440 requires that
the ballot be transmitted from the jurisdiction where it is
voted and received by the county elections official where the
voter is registered on or before the 10th day following the
election.
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4)Previous Legislation : AB 773 (Blakeslee) of 2007, which was
vetoed by the Governor, would have allowed an absentee voter
to return his or her ballot to any member of a precinct board
at any polling place within the state, not just one within the
jurisdiction of the elections official who issued the ballot.
In his veto message the Governor wrote:
Absentee voters already have sufficient options for
returning their ballot. If they choose not to return their
ballot by mail, they can return it to any polling place in
their home county. This is ample flexibility. While it
may be convenient for a small number of voters to return
their ballots in counties other than their county of
residence, the extra costs to counties and inherent delays
associated with this measure do not justify the provisions
of this bill.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Disability Rights California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094