BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1799 HEARING DATE:6/29/10
AUTHOR: FONG ANALYSIS BY:Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 3/23/10
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Voting: replacement ballots
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the elections official to include
with the sample ballot an application for a vote by mail
(VBM) ballot.
Existing law provides that the elections official shall
send a second VBM ballot to any voter upon receipt of a
statement under penalty of perjury that the voter has
failed to receive, lost, or destroyed his or her original
ballot.
Existing law requires the elections official to keep a
record of each VBM ballot sent to and received from a voter
and to verify, prior to counting any duplicate ballot that
the voter has not attempted to vote twice. If it is
determined that a voter has attempted to vote twice, both
ballots shall be void.
This bill deletes the requirement that a voter who requests
a replacement VBM ballot provide a statement under penalty
of perjury that he or she has failed to receive, lost, or
destroyed an original ballot.
This bill requires the elections official to keep a record
of each VBM ballot sent to and received from a voter, and
verify, prior to issuing any replacement ballot, that the
voter has not already cast a ballot in the same election.
This bill provides that if an original VBM ballot is
received from a voter who has requested a replacement VBM
ballot, that original ballot shall be held until such time
as it can be determined that the voter does not intend to
return the replacement ballot, after which time it can be
processed and tallied.
This bill maintains that in no event may more than one
ballot of a voter be processed and tallied in an election.
BACKGROUND
VBM Voting in California : In the past few elections, the
number of voters choosing to vote using a VBM ballot has
increased significantly, particularly since the enactment
of AB 1520 (Shelley), Chapter 922, Statutes of 2001, which
allowed any voter to become a permanent VBM voter. Whereas
just over 25% of voters who participated in the 1998
Statewide Primary Election voted by VBM ballot, more than
41% of voters who participated in the last six statewide
elections voted by mail. These trends suggest that the
number of voters opting to vote a VBM ballot will continue
to increase.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author : The percentage of voters who
vote by mail has increased with every election and shows
no signs of abating. For instance, in California in the
1998 general election, 24 percent of the votes were cast
with a vote by mail ballot and in the 2008 general
election, 41 percent of votes casts were by vote by mail
ballots.
Due to the increasing number of VBM ballots, it is not
practical, nor is there sufficient time to require a
voter to complete a written statement under penalty of
perjury prior to issuing a replacement ballot. AB 1799
will make it easier for voters to request replacement
ballots when they have not received or have lost their
original ballot as well as save election officials the
cost of processing written request for second ballots.
(According to the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters,
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in the November 2008 General Election, it cost the county
approximately $30,000 to re-issue 4,042 ballots. It is
estimated that the county could have saved as much as
$7,000 with the new requirements of AB 1799.)
2.Related Legislation : SB 1725 (Bowen), Chapter 687,
Statutes of 2006, required elections officials to
establish procedures by March 1, 2008, to track and
confirm the receipt of voted VBM ballots and to make this
information available by online access using the county's
elections division website, or if no website is
available, by means of a toll-free telephone number.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-2
Assembly Floor: 49-27
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
Oppose: None received
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