BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1440 HEARING DATE: 7/7/09
AUTHOR: SWANSON ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 6/25/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: provisional ballots
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that at all elections, a voter
claiming to be properly registered but whose qualification
or entitlement to vote cannot be immediately established is
entitled to vote a provisional ballot.
Existing law provides that the provisional ballot of a
voter who is otherwise entitled to vote shall not be
rejected because the voter did not cast his or her ballot
in the precinct to which he or she was assigned by the
elections official.
Existing law provides that if a provisional ballot cast by
the voter contains the same candidates and measures on
which the voter would have been entitled to vote in his or
her assigned precinct, the elections official shall count
the votes for the entire ballot. However, 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 will count
only the votes for the candidates and measures on which the
voter was entitled to vote in his or her assigned precinct.
This bill provides that upon the declaration of a state of
emergency by the Governor, elections officials in the
counties included in the Governor's executive order shall
issue to any person who is a public safety worker,
emergency services worker, or other person officially
engaged in responding to the declared emergency, a
provisional ballot that may be identical to the provisional
ballot offered to other voters in the county, permitting
that person to vote on all statewide measures and
candidates for statewide office appearing on the ballot
using a process to be determined by the elections official.
This bill requires elections officials to transmit for
processing any ballot cast, including any materials
necessary to process the ballot, to the elections official
in the county where the voter is registered to vote.
This bill establishes that a ballot cast pursuant to this
bill will be counted if the ballot is cast by the voter no
later than the close of the polls on election day and is
received by the county elections official where the voter
is registered on or before the 10th day following the date
of the election.
This bill requires that upon receipt of the returned
ballot, the elections official shall process the ballot
pursuant to existing provisional voting procedures. If the
stated requirements are met and the ballot is eligible to
be counted, the ballot shall be duplicated and all other
materials preserved according to the procedures set forth.
BACKGROUND
Natural and man-made disasters can occur regardless of the
season. For example, California's fire season often
continues into the month of November, resulting in
emergency personnel missing not only primary elections, but
general elections as well. As the state continues to grow
in population, a greater number of emergency personnel
could well be deployed throughout California at various
times of the year. The chances of emergency personnel
being deprived of their right to vote thus becomes an ever
greater possibility.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : During a large-scale
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
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a vote-by-mail ballot and/or do not return home before
Election Day, they will have no opportunity to vote.
This bill 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. The individual's selections would
be counted only for those races for which they are
entitled to vote, based on their registration address.
To be counted, the ballot must be cast no later than the
close of polls on Election Day, and the county in which
the ballot was cast must forward it to the election
official in the voter's home county within 10 calendar
days.
2. Executive Orders During the Election Season : In the
Fall of 1993 then Governor Pete Wilson issued an
Executive Order W-69-93 declaring a state of emergency
within the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside,
San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura. The executive
order temporarily suspended certain portions of the
Elections Code regarding absentee voters, authorizing
elections officials to issue a provisional ballot to
permit a person officially engaged in responding to the
emergency to vote on all statewide measures appearing on
the November 2, 1993 Special Statewide Election Ballot.
Executive Order W-69-93 also specified that upon return
of a ballot by the voter by the close of polls on
election day, the elections official was required to
transmit for processing the ballot to the elections
official in the county where the voter was registered to
vote.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Secretary of State
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Support: California Professional Firefighters
Oppose: None received
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