BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2371
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 2371 (Anderson)
As Amended April 27, 2010
2/3 vote
ELECTIONS 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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| |Fong, Adams, Bill |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, Ammiano, |
| |Berryhill, Coto, Mendoza, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Saldana, Swanson | |Calderon, Coto, Davis, De |
| | | |Leon, Hall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, Nielsen, Norby, |
|Ayes:| | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
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| | | | |
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(May 13, 2010) |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 5, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Secretary of State (SOS), within 21 days
of receiving a written complaint from a person who alleges that
an Elections Code violation 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
AB 2371
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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 : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible fiscal impact, as the SOS indicates the
bill is consistent with current practice.
(The SOS's Election Fraud Investigation Unit primarily
investigates criminal violations of the California Elections
Code. When a person files a complaint, a letter is sent
acknowledging receipt of the complaint. The average response
time to acknowledge receipt of a complaint is approximately two
weeks, depending on the time of year (election season versus a
non-election season).)
COMMENTS : 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 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."
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"This bill requires the Secretary of State to acknowledge, in
writing, the receipt of a complaint of an alleged Elections Code
violation within 21 days.
"The Secretary of State is the Chief Elections Officer in
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California and is tasked with ensuring that the state's
elections laws are enforced. This responsibility is not taken
lightly and the current practice of the Secretary of State is to
reply to all complains in the timeline required by this bill.
Therefore this bill is unnecessary."
Analysis Prepared by: Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0006709