BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1440
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1440 (Swanson) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill allows emergency service workers responding to a state
emergency to vote a special provisional ballot containing state
ballot measures and candidates for statewide office.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires elections officials in those counties included in a
state of emergency declared by the governor to issue the
provisional ballots, upon demand, to any public safety worker,
emergency services worker, or other person officially engaged
in response to the emergency.
2)Requires the election official to transmit the provisional
ballots to the county where the voter is registered.
3)Requires that, in order to be counted, the provisional ballot
must be cast by the close of polls on election day and be
received by the elections official in the voter's county by
the 10th day following the election.
FISCAL EFFECT
Potential state GF reimbursable costs for county elections
officials to provide the provisional ballots to out-of-county
emergency workers and separate and mail these ballots to the
appropriate county for tabulation. Assuming, at most, 1,000
such provisional ballots, and "handling" costs of $50 per
ballot, the total cost would be $50,000 at any one election.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "During a large-scale
AB 1440
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emergency, state mutual aid agreements can require emergency
personnel to respond to a situation away from the county in
which they are registered to vote. If these voters have not
requested, received, or voted with a vote-by-mail ballot
and/or do not return home before Election Day, they will have
no opportunity to vote. This bill [sponsored by the Secretary
of State] allows emergency personnel responding to a
Governor's declared state emergency to cast a provisional
ballot within any county inside California, regardless of
which county the voter is currently registered to vote."
2)Elections Officials Concerns . The California Association of
Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO) have not taken an
official position on this bill, but have raised concerns about
the possible need for multiple ballots. According to CACEO,
this bill could be interpreted to require a new ballot
containing statewide offices and propositions because
candidates for statewide office are rotated by the Assembly
District resulting in the creation of multiple versions of a
ballot. CACEO has suggested an alternative, which would not
require additional ballot versions, but rather allow emergency
responders to transmit their ballots via facsimile, similar to
those process available to overseas voters. This option would
allow election officials to provide a quick turnaround in
processing ballots and allow voters to cast a ballot not only
on statewide candidates and issues, but on important local
contests and propositions as well.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081