BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2467|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2467
Author: Monning (D)
Amended: 7/15/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELEC., REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 3-1, 6/29/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu
NOES: Strickland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 5/10/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: vote by mail (VBM)
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill deletes the requirement that an
electronic vote-by-mail (VBM) application include the date
the application must be received by the elections
officials, and requires an electronic application for a VBM
ballot to inform the voter that the application for the VBM
ballot must be received by the elections official not later
than seven days prior to the date of the election.
Senate Floor Amendments of 7/15/10 make a uniform wording
change within another Elections Code section dealing with
processing of VBM ballots. This change was inadvertently
left out of the bill when it was last amended. It
specifically provides that the specific statements related
to voting be substantially similar to those statements
CONTINUED
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currently found in the existing provisions.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law provides that a VBM ballot is available to any
registered voter.
Existing law provides that a specific format be used on any
printed application that is to be distributed to voters for
requesting VBM ballots including, but not limited to the
following:
A. The printed name and residence address of the
voter as it appears on the affidavit of
registration.
B. The address to which the ballot is to be mailed.
C. The voter's signature.
D. The name and date of the election for which the
request is to be made.
E. The date the application must be received by the
elections official.
Existing law requires that an elections official receive a
request in writing from a voter requesting a VBM
application between the 29th and the 7th day prior to the
election.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to
prepare and distribute to appropriate elections officials a
uniform application format for a VBM ballot.
This bill requires that a printed application that is to be
distributed to a voter requesting a VBM ballot shall inform
the voter that the application for the VBM ballot must be
received by the elections official not later than seven
days prior to the date of the election.
This bill deletes the requirement that an electronic VBM
application include the date the application must be
received by the elections officials.
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This bill requires an electronic application for a VBM
ballot to inform the voter that the application for the VBM
ballot must be received by the elections official not later
than seven days prior to the date of the election.
This bill makes other clarifying changes to statements on
both the printed and the uniform electronic VBM
application.
Background
Current law requires the SOS to prepare and distribute to
elections officials a uniform electronic VBM application
that must include specific instructions. For example, the
application must include spaces for the voter to fill in
their name and residence address, the address to which the
ballot is to be mailed, the date of birth of the registered
voter, the name and date of the election, as well as the
date the application must be received by the elections
official. The SOS posts the required format for a
statewide vote-by-mail ballot application online. County
election officials must follow this format when
distributing vote-by-mail ballot applications and by law,
the voter has to fill in the correct date of the election,
as well as the correct date for the last day the
application must be received.
According to the author's office, this bill clarifies and
makes the process of filling out a VBM ballot application
more user friendly for voters by eliminating the
requirement that the voter know and fill in specific dates
when submitting the application.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/30/10)
Secretary of State (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
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Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis,
De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John
A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Coto, De La Torre, DeVore, Harkey,
Mendoza, Norby, Saldana, Solorio, Vacancy
DLW:do 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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