BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2616
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2616 (Hill) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish
procedures that will permit vote-by-mail (VBM) voters to find
out, through the SOS website, whether their ballot were counted,
and if not, to identify the reason why. This requirement would
not be operative until the statewide voter registration database
(VoteCal) has been implemented.
FISCAL EFFECT
Costs for the SOS to coordinate the new procedures with county
elections officials will be minor and absorbable, as the
capability required by this bill will be a component of the
VoteCal system.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Under current law, there are a number of reasons why
a VBM ballot that was completed and returned to the elections
official may not be counted. Two of the most common reasons
are (a) ballots arriving after election day, and (b) the
signature on the identification envelope does not match the
one on the original affidavit of registration. (Illness and
age can be factors that contribute to a signature changing
over time.)
By providing VBM voters an opportunity to verify if their
ballot has been counted, and a reason if it was not counted,
voters whose ballots were unable to be counted can take
appropriate steps to ensure that their VBM ballots are counted
in the future.
AB 2616
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The VoteCal system is currently being developed by the SOS and
is due to be operational in early 2012. AB 2616 is sponsored
by the Secretary of State.
2)Prior Legislation .
a) AB 84 (Hill) of 2009, which required county elections
officials to establish procedures to provide the same
information as this bill, was vetoed over concerns about
adding a cost burden to counties. A substantially similar
bill, AB 2964 (Levine) of 2008, was one of numerous bills
summarily vetoed by the governor without a stated
objection.
b) SB 1725 (Bowen)/Chapter 687 of 2006, requires election
officials to establish procedures to track and confirm the
receipt of VBM ballots and to make this information
available by means of online access using the county's
elections division web site, or if none is available, by
means of a toll-free telephone number.
c) SB 613 (Perata)/Chapter 613 of 2003, in part required
the establishment of a free access system allowing a voter
casting a provisional ballot to confirm whether the ballot
was counted and, if not, the reason it was not counted.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081