BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1681|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1681
Author: Yamada (D)
Amended: 8/19/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COM : 3-2, 6/15/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu
NOES: Denham, Strickland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-25, 4/5/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: all-mailed ballot elections
SOURCE : Yolo County Clerk/Recorder
DIGEST : This bill authorizes a pilot program, until
December 31, 2014, elections in Yolo County, other than
statewide primary or general elections or special elections
to fill a vacancy in a state office, the Legislature, or
Congress, to be conducted as all-mailed ballot elections,
if specified conditions are satisfied. This bill sunsets
January 1, 2014.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/10 make the following
changes: (1) there will be one polling location per 10,000
registered voters instead of one in each city, (2), polling
places will be open four weeks prior to Election Day
instead of two weeks, and (3) moves the sunset date from
December 31, 2016 to December 31, 2014.
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ANALYSIS : Existing law permits an election to be
conducted wholly by mail if the governing body authorizes
the use of mailed ballots for the election, the election
occurs on an established mailed ballot election date, and
the election is one of the following:
1.An election in which no more than 1,000 registered voters
are eligible to participate;
2.An election in a city, county, or district with 5,000 or
fewer registered voters that is restricted to the
imposition of special taxes, expenditure limitation
overrides, or both;
3.An election on the issuance of a general obligation water
bond;
4.An election in one of four specifically enumerated water
districts; or,
5.An election or assessment ballot proceeding required or
authorized by the state constitution under Proposition
218.
Existing law authorizes a school district or city with a
population of 100,000 or less to conduct an all-mail ballot
election to fill a vacancy in a special election. Existing
law authorizes a district to conduct any election as an
all-mailed ballot election on any date other than an
established election date.
This bill creates a pilot program allowing Yolo County to
conduct not more than three local elections as all-mail
ballot elections subject to the following conditions:
1. The governing body of the city, county, or district, by
resolution, authorizes the all-mailed ballot election
and notifies the Secretary of State (SOS) of its intent
to conduct an all-mailed ballot election at least 88
days prior to the date of the election.
2. The election does not occur on the same date as a
statewide primary or general election or any other
election conducted in an overlapping jurisdiction that
is not consolidated and conducted as an all-mailed
ballot election.
3. The election is not a special election to fill a vacancy
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in a state office, the State Legislature, or Congress.
4. At least one polling place is provided per 10,000
registered voters and is open to receive voted ballots
for at least four weeks before the date of the election
and until 8 p.m. on the day of the election.
5. The elections official delivers to each voter all
supplies necessary for the use and return of the mail
ballot, including an envelope for the return of the
voted mail ballot, postage prepaid.
6. The elections official delivers to each voter, with
either the sample ballot or with the voter's ballot, a
list of the polling places provided under this bill.
The list of polling places must also be posted on the
Internet Web site of the Yolo County Elections Office.
7. The return of voted mail ballots is subject to the same
procedures for the return of vote by mail ballots at a
regular election.
8. The polling places provided pursuant to this bill are at
an accessible location and are equipped with voting
units or systems that are accessible to individuals with
disabilities and that provide the same opportunity for
access and participation, including the ability to vote
privately and independently.
9. The county report to the Legislature and to the SOS
regarding the success of the election. Requires the
report to include, but not be limited to, any statistics
on the cost to conduct the election; the turnout of
different populations, including whenever possible, but
not limited to, the population categories of race,
ethnicity, age, gender, disability, permanent vote by
mail status, and political party affiliation; the number
of ballots that were not counted and the reasons why
they were rejected; voter fraud; and any other problems
that became known to the county during the election or
canvass.
10.Requires the report, whenever possible, to compare the
success of the all-mailed ballot election to similar
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elections not conducted as all-mailed ballot elections
in the same jurisdiction or comparable jurisdiction.
11.Requires the report to be submitted to the Legislature
within 6 months after the date of an all-mailed ballot
election or prior to the date of any other all-mailed
ballot election conducted under this bill, whichever is
sooner.
12.Contains a December 31, 2014 sunset date.
Background
Several California counties have conducted all-mail ballot
elections. Monterey conducted one of the first
vote-by-mail elections ever held in the United States in
1977 on a flood control measure. Alpine County conducted
its first all-mail election in November, 1993 for a
countywide special election. San Diego used all-mail
balloting in May 1981 for a measure proposing to build a
$224 million convention center. Stanislaus County
conducted its first all-mail ballot election in 1987 for
the Modesto City Charter.
In 1992, the Legislature approved a pilot project in
Stanislaus and Placer counties. The counties were allowed
to conduct all-mail ballot elections. Placer County did
not utilize this pilot project but Stanislaus County
conducted the 1993 Statewide Special Election as an
all-mail ballot election.
All-mail ballot elections conducted in California as well
as other states have generally shown increases in voter
turnout and significant decreases in the cost of conducting
elections. During Stanislaus County's all-mail ballot
pilot project, the County saved almost half of its usual
election expenditures. Stanislaus County generally
reported turnout levels at six to eight percentage points
below the state's average. During the 1993 Statewide
Special Election, the County's turnout was 6.8 percent
higher than the statewide average during that election.
Oregon has been conducting all-mail ballot elections for
non-partisan and ballot measure elections for 20 years. In
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1998 the voters passed an initiative expanding vote-by-mail
to primary and general elections.
Monterey County Pilot Project . AB 319 (Salinas), Chapter
385, Statutes of of 2001, allowed Monterey County to
conduct any election within the county wholly by mail,
provided that the election did not contain a state or
federal office. AB 319 specified that it was to serve as a
pilot project for mailed ballot elections, and required
Monterey County to report to the Legislature and the SOS
regarding the success of the election, including, but not
limited to, any statistics on the increase of voter fraud.
The pilot project ended on December 31, 2005. AB 591
(Salinas) of 2005 sought to extend the pilot project until
December 31, 2008, but that bill failed after never being
heard in the Senate Elections Committee.
Unfortunately, the report filed by Monterey County as part
of the pilot project lacked much of the information that is
necessary to evaluate the impacts of the pilot project.
Although the report indicated that mailed ballot elections
increased turnout, decreased costs, and did not result in
voter fraud, the report lacked the detail necessary to
evaluate these claims.
Related Legislation
SB 1102 (Liu), which is pending on the Senate Inactive
File, would allow a special general or primary election
called to fill a Congressional, Assembly, or State Senate
vacancy to be conducted wholly by mail under specified
conditions. AB 1654 (Huffman) of 2007 would have allowed
jurisdictions in Calaveras, Marin, Mariposa, Nevada,
Plumas, Santa Barbara, Siskiyou, and Sonoma counties to
conduct any local, special, primary, or general election as
an all-mail ballot election until December 31, 2013. AB
1654 was approved by the Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee but subsequently was amended to
deal with an unrelated issue.
AB 867 (Liu) of 2005 would have authorized Calaveras,
Mendocino, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Sierra, and
Ventura Counties to conduct all elections as all-mail
ballot elections until January 1, 2011. AB 867 was held on
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the Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
Previous Legislation
This bill is identical to AB 1228 (Yamada) of 2009, except
that AB 1228 would have allowed both Yolo and Santa Clara
Counties to participate in the all-mail ballot pilot
project. As noted above by the author, AB 1228 was vetoed
by the Governor, who expressed concern that the bill could
"significantly increase the distance needed to travel to
vote in-person."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/20/10)
Yolo County Clerk/Recorder (source)
City Clerks Association of California
City of Thousand Oaks
Disability Rights California
League of California Cities
Orange County Taxpayers Association
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Yolo County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office:
The popularity of voting by mail in local and state
elections has steadily increased in California since
the state began permitting voters to register as
permanent mail ballot voters in 2001. Many voters
prefer the convenience of voting by mail, which
traditionally costs County Registrars less per vote
than poll voting. Research indicates that all-mail
ballot elections tend to increase turnout, decrease
costs and do not result in voter fraud, yet we have no
detailed reports to evaluate these specific claims.
In 2001, Monterey County conducted an all-mail
election which did require a report to be submitted to
the State Legislature. The county claimed the
election had been a success, but the submitted report
lacked the detail needed to support these claims. AB
1681 will allow Yolo County to conduct up to three
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local all vote-by-mail elections subject to prescribed
conditions to minimize their impact on voters who
traditionally vote at the polls. These conditions
include, but are not limited to, requiring pre-paid
return postage, one polling place per city, a
prescribed number of ballot drop-off sites, and a
process to ensure the timely mailing of ballots and
sample ballots. In addition, this bill will require
the Registrar of Voters to provide the state with a
detailed report on the impact of these all
vote-by-mail elections, including a cost comparison to
a traditional election; data on the impact on turnout
for various types of voters of varying demographics;
and the reasons for returned mail ballots that were
not counted.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro,
Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Yamada, John A.
Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Tom Berryhill, Cook, DeVore,
Emmerson, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Harkey, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Norby, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran,
Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee, Charles
Calderon, Conway, Jeffries
DLW:nl 8/22/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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