BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2371
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 2371 (Anderson) - As Amended: April 13, 2010
SUBJECT : Secretary of State: voter registration fraud.
SUMMARY : Requires the Secretary of State (SOS), within 21 days
of receiving a written complaint from a county registrar of
voters who alleges that voter registration fraud has occurred,
to acknowledge receipt of the complaint in writing.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Makes the SOS the chief elections officer of the state,
responsible for the administration of the provisions of the
Elections Code. Requires the SOS to see that elections are
efficiently conducted and that state election laws are
enforced.
2)Requires the SOS to call violations of state election laws to
the attention of the district attorney of the county or to the
Attorney General (AG) if he or she concludes that state
election laws are not being enforced.
3)Allows the SOS to examine voted, unvoted, spoiled and canceled
ballots, vote-counting computer programs, absent voter
envelopes and applications, supplies or any other records of
elections officials in order to determine whether an election
law violation has occurred.
4)Permits the SOS to adopt regulations to assure the uniform
application and administration of state election laws.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Assembly Bill 2371 is a voter rights bill that promotes a
responsive and accountable treatment of voter concerns, and
guarantees a transparent process of handling complaints of
vote fraud. The purpose of AB 2371 is to reasonably
AB 2371
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provide voters with a process that assures that concerns
about voter registration fraud are heard. Illegal tampering
with the voter registration process must be taken
seriously, and open communication between concerned
citizens and the authorities responsible for securing the
electoral process is vital to the health of our democracy.
2)Current Process for Filing an Election Fraud Complaint with
the SOS : The SOS's Election Fraud Investigation Unit
primarily investigates criminal violations of the California
Elections Code. According to the Investigation Unit, when a
person files a complaint, a letter is sent acknowledging
receipt of the complaint. The average response time for the
Investigation Unit to acknowledge receipt of a complaint is
approximately two weeks, depending on the time of year
(election season verses a non-election season) that a
complaint is received. Next, an initial evidentiary review of
the complaint is conducted. If the initial evidentiary review
concludes that there was no violation of election law, the
file is closed, and the person filing the complaint is
notified of the decision.
If the initial evidentiary review leads to an investigation
being opened, that investigation can lead to one of two
conclusions, both of which conclude with the complainants
being notified of the resolution:
a) If there is not enough evidence developed during the
investigation to warrant a referral of the case to a
district attorney or the AG for prosecution, the person
who filed the complaint is notified of this fact.
b) If there is enough evidence developed during the
investigation to warrant a referral of the case to a
district attorney or the AG for prosecution, the person
who filed the complaint is notified.
The average timeframe for a person to receive a notification
from the Investigation Unit will vary depending on whether
there is sufficient evidence to warrant a referral of the case
to a district attorney or the AG. Given the fact that the SOS
currently responds to complainants and notifies them of his or
her resolution, the committee may wish to consider whether
there is a current problem or evidence that suggest that the
SOS is failing to respond to complaints in a timely manner.
AB 2371
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3)Issues and Concerns : The committee may wish to consider
whether it is appropriate for complaints of voter registration
fraud that are received by the SOS to take precedence over
other types of election related violations such as petition
fraud, voter intimidation, fraud in connection with voting, or
electioneering.
Additionally, the committee may wish to consider whether it is
desirable to prioritize complaints received from county
registrars of voters over complaints received from other
individuals, as this bill does. As noted in a letter of
concerns submitted by the SOS, this bill "implies that
complaints made by country registrars of voters are more
serious than complaints filed by, for example, city elections
officials, private citizens, law enforcement officers, or any
other person or organization." In that respect, this bill
could provide special treatment for certain complaint filings
based on who is filing the complaint rather than on the merits
or nature of the complaint.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Qiana Charles / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094