BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2616|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2616
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: 8/20/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COM : 4-1, 6/15/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
NOES: Denham
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/6/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: vote by mail ballots
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill requires the Secretary of State to
permit a legally registered voter to track and confirm
receipt of voted vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots, and also
requires the county elections official to permit a VBM
voter to find out whether his or her ballot was counted and
if not, identify the reason why through the use of the
county elections division Web site. The bill further
allows a voter to obtain the same information regarding VBM
ballots through the use of a toll-free telephone number
should a county not have an elections division Internet Web
site.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/20/10: (1) Strike an obsolete
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reference; (2) permit a legally registered voter to
track/confirm receipt of voted vote by mail ballot and to
verify whether his/her ballot was counted and if not
identify why; (3) change what information would be provided
to a VBM voter choosing to use a toll-free telephone number
provided by an elections official; (4) remove reference to
a VoteCal provision and (5) add boilerplate mandate
language.
ANALYSIS : Existing law outlines procedures for voting by
mail and establishes requirements for elections officials
to compare the signature on a 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.
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 percent of voters who participated in the 1998
Statewide Primary Election voted by VBM ballot, more than
41 percent 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
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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. 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.
Prior 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 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
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/28/10)
Secretary of State (source)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office:
Based on the numbers gathered by the Secretary of State, of
all the votes cast in the 2009 Statewide Special Election
62 percent of them were cast by mail. Twenty years ago,
less than 10 percent 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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
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Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Block, Gilmore, Mendoza
DLW:nl 8/22/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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