BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1717|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1717
Author: De Leon (D), et al
Amended: 6/10/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAPP. & C.A. COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/15/10
AYES: Hancock, Denham, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/12/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Ballot materials: electronic access
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes county and city elections
officials, if specified conditions and deadlines are met,
to establish procedures to allow a voter to opt out of
receiving his/her sample ballot and other ballot materials
by mail and instead obtain them via electronic means such
as e-mail or accessing them from a county's or city's
Internet Web site.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the elections official
to mail to each voter who is registered at least 29 days
prior to the election a sample ballot and a voter's
pamphlet no more than 40 nor less than 21 days before the
election. Along with the sample ballot, the elections
official must also send notice of the voter's polling
place. Voters who register after the 29th day prior to the
CONTINUED
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election will also receive notice of their polling place.
That notice must include information as to where a voter
can obtain a sample ballot and ballot pamphlet prior to the
election, a statement indicating that those documents will
be available at the polling place at the time of the
election, and the address of the Secretary of State's (SOS)
website and, if applicable, of the county website where a
sample ballot may be viewed.
This bill provides that county and city elections officials
may establish procedures designed to permit a voter to opt
out of receiving his/her sample ballot, voter pamphlet,
notice of polling place, and associated materials by mail
and instead receive them electronically by e-mail or on the
county's or city's Internet Web site subject to all of the
following conditions:
1. The procedures provide notice of and an opportunity by
which a voter can notify elections officials of his/her
desire to obtain ballot materials electronically instead
of by mail subject to specified deadlines.
2. The voter's information and e-mail address are to remain
confidential, subject to existing restrictions on the
access of voter information.
3. The procedures provide notice and opportunity for a
voter who has opted out of receiving a sample ballot and
other materials by mail to opt back in to receiving them
by mail subject to specified deadlines.
4. The procedures establish a process by which a voter can
apply electronically to become a vote by mail voter.
5. The procedures must include a verification process to
confirm the voter's identity, either in writing with a
signature that can be matched to the one on file, or if
the request is submitted electronically it must include
the voter's California driver's license number,
California identification number, or partial social
security number.
Background
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State Ballot Pamphlet . AB 306 (Fuller), Chapter 98,
Statutes of 2009, requires the SOS to establish a process
to enable a voter to opt out of receiving the state ballot
pamphlet by mail. Where two or more voters share the same
postal address, the SOS would have to continue to mail at
least one ballot pamphlet to that address unless every
voter at the address chooses to opt out. AB 306 will only
become effective after the SOS certifies that the state has
a statewide voter registration database that complies with
the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/16/10)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California State Association of Counties
Cities of Costa Mesa, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Vista, and
West Hollywood
City Clerks Association of California
Counties of Los Angeles, Monterey, San Bernardino, and San
Mateo County
League of California Cities
State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
as more and more Californians turn to the Internet for
their research needs, and increasingly choose to "go
paperless" for communications such as bank and billing
statements, the receipt of election materials through the
mail is no longer essential for many voters. This bill
allows county and city elections officials to offer
registered voters the opportunity to opt-out of receiving
their sample ballot, ballot pamphlet, and notice of polling
place by mail, and instead provide access to this
information electronically (i.e., via e-mail or web site).
In addition to helping local governments save money in
printing and postage costs, this proposal would also
benefit our environment by reducing the amount of paper
that ends up at recycling centers and landfills.
According to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors,
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providing election materials electronically to voters would
substantially reduce the costs to counties of compiling,
printing and mailing sample ballots. In San Mateo County,
those costs average approximately $150,000 per election.
In addition to the fiscal savings, paperless distribution
of voting materials is friendly to the environment and a
highly effective way of distributing information to voters.
Most importantly, the electronic distribution of sample
ballot materials is the most convenient way for voters to
access ballot information wherever and whenever they wish
prior to the election.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A.
Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Bass, Evans, Hall, Harkey,
Norby, Smyth, Torlakson, Vacancy
DLW:mw 6/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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