BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2369|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2369
Author: Block (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ELEC., REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 8/2/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Ashburn, Corbett, Emmerson, Price,
Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Leno, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 4/22/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: ballots
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill repeals the 2011 sunset on provisions
allowing absentee voters temporarily living outside the
United States to return their ballots to elections
officials by facsimile transmission.
ANALYSIS : AB 2941 (Bates) Chapter 821, Statutes of 2004,
permitted special absentee voters temporarily living
outside the United States to return their ballots by
facsimile transmission. AB 2786 (Salas), Chapter 252,
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Statutes of 2008, extends the sunset date for this
procedure to January 1, 2011. The original legislation
required the Secretary of State (SOS) to report by December
31, 2008 on the benefits and problems of allowing voters to
return ballots by fax and on the number of ballots returned
by fax.
The SOS reported that, for the November 2008 General
Election, 11,997 ballots were returned by fax and, of
those, 875 were rejected and were not counted. The most
common reasons for rejection were the failure on the part
of the voter to forward or sign the voter oath and poor
facsimile quality.
Ten counties experienced a substantial increase in the
number of special absentee voters and two of those counties
reported that additional processing time was necessary for
duplicating ballots due the quality of the facsimile
transmissions. Santa Clara was the only county indicated
the process actually delayed counting the ballots because
every faxed ballot required duplication. No counties
recommended discontinuing this practice, and many military
members were reportedly grateful that this method of voting
was available and expressed their appreciation to county
election officials, who are in support of this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, negligible fiscal impact. It is not likely that
counties will submit a reimbursement claim for any minor
additional costs associated with counting faxed overseas
ballots.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/4/10)
American Legion, Department of California
AMVETS, Department of California
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
County of San Diego
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
establishes by AB 2941(Bates), Chapter 821, Statutes of
2004 and extended by AB 2786 (Salas), Chapter 252, Statutes
of 2008, current law allows a voter who is temporarily
living outside of the territorial limits of the United
States, the District of Columbia, or is called to military
service, to return his or her vote by mail ballot by
facsimile transmission to the elections official. The
ballot has to be received by the close of the Election Day
polls and accompanied by an identification envelope and an
oath of voter declaration in a prescribed form.
The statutes that protect the voting rights of men and
women in uniform serving outside the United States will
expire in 2011. Faxed voting ballots are a proven and
effective means of voting by service members and others
living temporarily overseas (In the 2008 General Election
over 8,000 members of the Armed Services cast their votes
with a faxed ballot). This bill ensures that a permanent
protection for service members' voting rights is
established.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blumenfield, Caballero, Huber, Huffman,
Norby, Vacancy
DLW:do 8/4/10 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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