BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1490 HEARING DATE:6/16/09
AUTHOR: GALGIANI ANALYSIS BY:Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: results
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the elections official to send to the
Secretary of State (SOS) within 35 days of the election in
an electronic format one complete copy of all results to
all of the following:
a) All candidates voted for statewide office.
b) All candidates voted for Member of Assembly, Senate,
United States House of Representatives, State Board of
Equalization, Justice of the Court of Appeal and Judge
of the superior court.
c) All persons voted for at the presidential primary.
The results for all persons voted for at the
presidential primary for delegates to national
conventions shall be canvassed and shall be sent within
28 days after the election.
d) The vote given for persons for electors of President
and Vice President of the United States. The results
for presidential electors shall be endorsed
"Presidential Election Returns".
e) All statewide measures.
f) The total number of ballots cast.
Existing law requires the SOS, except as to presidential
electors, not later than the 39th day after the election,
to prepare, certify, and file a statement of the vote from
the compiled results of the following:
a) All candidates for statewide office.
b) All candidates for Assembly, State Senate, Congress,
State Board of Equalization, Supreme Court, and Courts
of Appeal.
c) All statewide measures.
Existing law requires the SOS to determine the votes cast
for candidates for Senator and Representative and certify
to the persons having the highest number of votes for the
respective offices as duly elected on the 39th day after
the election, or as soon within that time as the returns
have been received from the entire state or a congressional
district.
Existing law requires the SOS, on the first Monday of the
month following the election, or as soon as the results
have been received from all the counties in the state if
received before that time, to analyze the votes given for
presidential electors and certify to the Governor the names
of the proper number of persons having the highest number
of votes. Requires the SOS to issue and transmit to each
presidential elector a certificate of election.
This bill reduces the number of days, from 35 days to 31
days after a state election that the election official has
to send in an electronic format in the manner requested to
the SOS one complete copy of all results for the following:
a) All candidates voted for statewide office.
b) All candidates voted for the following offices:
Member of the Assembly;
Member of the Senate;
Member of the United States House of
Representatives;
Member of the State Board of Equalization;
Justice of the Court of Appeal; and,
Judge of the superior court.
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a) The vote given for persons for electors of President
and Vice President of the United States.
b) All statewide measures.
c) The total number of ballots.
This bill reduces the number of days after the election,
from 39 days to 38 days, in which the SOS is required to
prepare, certify, and file a statement of the vote from the
compiled results of all the following:
a) All candidates for statewide office.
b) All candidates for Assembly, State Senate, Congress,
State Board of Equalization, Supreme Court, and Courts
of Appeal.
c) All statewide measures.
This bill reduces, from the 39th day after the election to
the 38th day after the election, the deadline for the SOS
to determine the votes cast for candidates for Senator and
Representative and certify to the persons having the
highest number of votes for the respective offices as duly
elected.
This bill changes, from the first Monday in the month
following the election to the 32nd day following the
election, the deadline for the SOS to analyze the votes
given for presidential electors, and certify to the
Governor the names of the proper number of persons having
the highest number of votes.
This bill requires the SOS thereupon to issue to and
transmit to each presidential elector a certificate of
election and a notice of the time and place of the meeting
of the presidential electors.
BACKGROUND
The current elections calendar requires local elections
officials to complete the official canvass by the 28th day
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after the election and transmit the results to the SOS by
the 35th day after the election. The SOS is required to
certify the election results by the 39th day after the
election, which falls on a Saturday. This leaves the SOS's
office with a very short window to process and certify the
results.
During presidential election years, existing law requires
the SOS to certify the list of presidential electors on the
first Monday of December. In three out of four
presidential elections, the certification deadline falls
one day before the local elections officials are required
to complete the official canvass, thus requiring the SOS to
certify results that have not been certified by local
elections officials.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : AB 1490 will adjust the
elections calendar to prevent the final certification
from occurring on a Saturday while giving the SOS more
time to compile the results. The amended elections
calendar would require local elections officials to
transmit the results of their official canvass by the
31st day after the election.
Additionally, this proposal amends the calendar for
presidential electors to mirror the process for
presidential primaries. This will ensure the SOS does
not certify the presidential elector results before all
of the votes have been counted. AB 1490 is an
important, straightforward measure that will clean-up
the elections calendar and allow the SOS sufficient time
to properly certify election results.
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PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-0
Assembly Floor: 78-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Secretary of State
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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