BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2616 HEARING DATE: 6/15/10
AUTHOR: HILL ANALYSIS BY:Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 4/12/10
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: vote by mail ballots
DESCRIPTION
Existing law outlines procedures for voting by mail and
establishes requirements for elections officials to compare
the signature on a vote by mail (VBM) ballot envelope with
that appearing on the affidavit of registration. If the
ballot is rejected because the signatures do not compare,
the envelope shall not be opened and the ballot shall not
be counted. The cause of the rejection shall be written on
the face of the identification envelope.
Existing law requires the elections 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 Internet web
site. If the county does not have an elections division
Internet web site, requires the elections official to
establish a toll-free telephone number that may be used to
confirm the date a voted VBM ballot was received.
This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to
establish procedures that allow a VBM voter to find out
whether his or her VBM ballot was counted, and if not, the
reason why it was not counted by means of accessing the
SOS's Internet web site.
This bill would become operative when VoteCal, the
statewide voter registration database is implemented.
BACKGROUND
VBM Voting in California : In the past few elections, the
number of voters choosing to vote using a VBM ballot has
increased significantly, particularly since the enactment
of AB 1520 (Shelley), Chapter 922, Statutes of 2001, which
allowed any voter to become a permanent VBM voter. Whereas
just over 25% of voters who participated in the 1998
Statewide Primary Election voted by VBM ballot, more than
41% of voters who participated in the last five statewide
elections voted by mail. These trends suggest that the
number of voters opting to vote by VBM ballot will continue
to increase.
Reasons Why a VBM Ballot Might Not be Counted : Under
current law, there are a number of reasons why a VBM ballot
that was completed and returned to the elections officials
may not be counted. One of the most common reasons is that
many ballots are received by the elections office after
Election Day, and state law requires that VBM ballots be
received by the close of polls on Election Day in order to
be counted. A voter who was under the impression that his
or her ballot would be counted as long as the envelope was
postmarked by Election Day could repeatedly have his or her
ballot not counted if that voter regularly waited until
Election Day to put their VBM ballot in the mail.
According to the Sacramento County Registrar's Office,
during the February 2008 Primary Election, out of the 1,696
VBM ballots that were not counted, 920 ballots could not be
counted because they were received after the close of the
polls.
Another primary reason why a VBM ballot might not be
counted is that the signature on the identification
envelope does not match the one on the voter's affidavit of
registration.
Help America Vote Act (HAVA) . At the time a voter votes a
provisional ballot, the elections official is required to
provide the provisional ballot voter with information on
how to determine if their vote was counted, and if was not,
the reason why it was not counted.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : Based on the numbers
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gathered by the Secretary of State, of all the votes
cast in the 2009 Statewide Special Election 62% of them
were cast by mail. Twenty years ago, less than 10% of
votes cast in the 1988 Primary were done through the
mail. Needless to say, voting by mail has increased
significantly over the past few years as a convenient
method of voting. Safeguards built into this method of
voting included requiring elections officials to verify
the signature on a [VBM] ballot envelope with the
signature on the voter's registration card. In some
cases, a voter's signature may have changed over time
from the signature on file as a result of age or
illness. During the signature verification process, if
the signature on the ballot envelope does not match the
signature on file, the elections official will
disqualify the ballot and the ballot will not be
counted.
AB 2616 seeks to give VBM voters the same rights afforded
to provisional voters to find out whether their ballot
was counted. AB 2616 requires that once VoteCal is
implemented, that the SOS work with local elections
officials to inform voters whose ballots are not
counted the reason why, thus giving voters the ability
to take corrective action to ensure that their vote is
counted in future elections.
2. Previous Legislation : AB 84 (Hill) of 2009, was a
similar bill that would have required elections
officials to establish procedures to allow a VBM voter
to find out whether his or her VBM ballot was counted,
and if not the reason why it was not counted. AB 84
was vetoed by the Governor who expressed concern that
it could result in additional costs to local
governments. AB 2964 (Levine) of 2008, which was
substantially similar to AB 84 was also vetoed by the
Governor, though the Governor did not express any
policy objections to the bill.
SB 1725 (Bowen), Chapter 687, Statutes of 2006, required
elections officials to establish procedures to track
and confirm the receipt of voted VBM ballots and to
make this information available by online access using
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the county's elections division website, or if none is
available, by means of a toll-free telephone number.
SB 613 (Perata), Chapter 809, Statutes of 2003, in part
required the establishment of a free access system
allowing a voter casting a provisional ballot to
confirm whether their ballot was counted and, if not,
the reason it was not counted.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 15-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Secretary of State
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Oppose: None received
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