BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: SB 465 HEARING DATE:
1/5/10
AUTHOR: HUFF ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 12/17/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Voter identification
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires a voter at the polls to announce his
or her name and address to a precinct officer. When the
precinct officer finds the voter's name in the roster, the
voter is required to write his or her name and residence
address on the roster and is provided a ballot.
Existing law permits a voter to vote a provisional ballot
if his or her qualification or entitlement to vote cannot
be immediately established upon examination of the roster
of voters for the precinct or upon examination of the
records on file with the county elections official.
Existing law authorizes a member of the precinct board to
challenge the ability of a person to vote on various
grounds, including that the voter is not the person whose
name appears on the index, is not a precinct resident, is
not a U.S. citizen, has already voted on that day, or is on
parole for the conviction of a felony.
Existing law provides that any person who votes more than
once, attempts to vote more than once, or impersonates or
attempts to impersonate a voter at an election is guilty of
a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for
16 months or two or three years, or in county jail not
exceeding one year.
Existing federal law , pursuant to the Help America Vote Act
of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15301, et seq.) requires a voter who
registers to vote by mail and who has not previously voted
to present one of a number of specified documents to
establish identity before receiving a ballot. This
requirement only applies the first time an individual votes
after registering to vote.
This bill instead requires that prior to receiving a ballot
at the polls, all voters must present photo identification
issued by the United States, the State of California, or a
tribal government. The name of the individual on the
identification must match the name in the voter index.
The identification must include an expiration date which
has either not expired at the time of voting or expired
after the date of the last general election.
This bill would require a precinct board member to visually
confirm the photograph and signature of the person desiring
to vote and record the identifying number, if any, and the
form of identification presented in the roster of voters.
This bill would provide that a voter desiring to vote in
person who is unable to present acceptable identification
will be entitled to vote a provisional ballot but must
provide valid proof of identification to the county
registrar of voters within five business days thereafter.
This bill would provide that the requirement to present
valid proof of identification when voting must be
prominently printed on all sample ballots near the location
where the voter's polling place is indicated.
BACKGROUND
Voter Identification . The Help America Vote Act of 2002
(HAVA) required states to adopt certain voter
identification requirements. Specifically, first time
voters who register by mail and didn't include verification
with their registration form must provide photo
identification, or a copy of a utility bill, bank
statement, government check, paycheck, or other government
document showing the name and address of the applicant when
they go to vote.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures
(NCSL), 22 states have broader voter identification
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requirements than what HAVA mandates. All voters in these
states are asked to show identification prior to voting -
five of these states (Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana,
and Louisiana) specify that voters must show a photo
identification, while the other 17 states accept additional
forms of identification that don't necessarily include a
photo.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author , current law requires any person
desiring to vote to announce his or her name and address
to a precinct board member before receiving a ballot to
vote. Current law does not require any proof of identity
to be presented at the time of voting. To deter
potential fraud, ensure the right of citizens to vote,
and maintain the integrity of California's electoral
process, it is necessary that poll workers verify the
identity of each person desiring to vote.
2.A Solution in Search of a Problem ? Requiring photo
identification for polling place voters only addresses
the type of potential fraud whereby an individual claims
to be someone they are not and attempts to vote as that
person. However, the author has not provided, nor is the
Committee otherwise aware of, any evidence that voter
fraud of that type has been occurring in California.
3.What About Bob ? This bill provides that the name on the
voter's identification must match the name in their voter
registration record. This requirement could therefore
disenfranchise otherwise qualified voters whose voter
registration records do not reflect a recent name change
due to marriage or other reason. It could also similarly
disenfranchise persons whose identification contains
their legal name (e.g., Robert, James, Catherine,
Elizabeth, etc.) but who registered to vote under a
commonly used nickname (e.g., Bob, Jimmy, Cathy, Betty,
etc.).
4.Provisional Ballots . This bill allows any voter who is
unable to present a valid form of photo identification to
cast a provisional ballot. However, this bill also
provides that the provisional ballot will only be counted
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if the voter presents valid photo identification to the
registrar of voters within five business days of voting.
This could present a significant obstacle to these
voters. Even if the voter in question has valid photo
identification, but does not have that identification at
the polling place on election day, that voter could be
forced, in some counties, to travel for several hours to
provide the registrar of voters with valid photo
identification in order to have his or her ballot
counted. In situations where the voter does not have
valid photo identification, it is highly unlikely that
the voter would be able to obtain such identification in
the five days after the election.
5.Verification of Signatures and Photographs by Polling
Place Workers . This bill requires polling place workers
to visually confirm the signature and photograph of a
person desiring to vote before providing that person with
a ballot. It is not clear which signature the poll
worker is supposed to compare to the one on the
identification since the signature on the voter's
affidavit of registration may not be accessible to the
poll worker. Furthermore, requiring poll workers to
verify the signatures and photographs of voters and to
record the identification numbers of the forms of
identification presented will significantly slow the
processing of voters and commensurately increase wait
times at polling places. To the extent that this bill
results in longer lines at polling places, this bill
could also result in reduced voter participation by those
voters who are not willing or able to wait in the longer
polling place lines.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Capitol Resource Family Impact
Steven Choi, Member, Irvine City Council
Oppose: Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
American Civil Liberties Union
Disability Rights California
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California Immigrant Policy Center
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