BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: SB 582 HEARING DATE:
4/21/09
AUTHOR: DUTTON ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 4/13/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Vote by mail ballots: military personnel
DESCRIPTION
Existing law defines "special absentee voter" as an elector
who is any of the following:
A member of the armed forces of the United States or any
auxiliary branch thereof;
A citizen of the United States temporarily living outside
the territorial limits of the United States or the
District of Columbia;
Serving on a merchant vessel documented under the laws of
the United States; or,
A spouse or dependent of a member of the armed forces or
any auxiliary branch thereof.
Existing law permits a special absentee voter who is
temporarily living outside of the United States to return
his or her ballot by facsimile transmission. Special
absentee ballots can be requested and provided as early as
60 days prior to an election (normal VBM ballots cannot be
requested or provided until 29 days prior to an election).
Existing law requires all VBM ballots, including special
absentee voter ballots, to be received by the elections
official no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day.
This bill would instead provide that the VBM ballot of a
member of the United States Armed Forces who is an "absent
uniformed services voter" and which is postmarked or
signed and dated by election day may be received by the
elections official up to 21 days after an election. As
defined in this bill by a cross reference to federal law,
an "absent uniformed services voter" means a member of a
uniformed service on active duty who, by reason of such
active duty, is absent from the place of residence where
the member is otherwise qualified to vote.
BACKGROUND
Voting By Fax . In September 2003, then Secretary of State
(SOS) Kevin Shelley issued a directive to all county
elections officials requiring the counties to accept
absentee ballots returned by fax for the October 7, 2003
statewide recall election. In issuing this directive, the
SOS specifically noted that the compressed schedule for
preparing for the election made it difficult to get ballots
to overseas voters in time for those ballots to be cast and
returned by mail by Election Day. This directive marked
the first time in state history that any California voters
were allowed to cast a ballot by fax.
The following year, the Legislature approved and the
Governor signed AB 2941 (Bates), Chapter 821 of 2004, which
permits special absentee voters who are temporarily living
outside the United States to return their ballots by
facsimile transmission. AB 2941 was modeled after the
procedures adopted by the SOS for the 2003 recall election
for handling absentee ballots returned by fax. AB 2941 was
intended to accommodate voters who, due to potential delays
in international mail delivery and structural barriers
present in combat areas, may not be able to receive, vote,
and return an absentee ballot in the 60-day period provided
for overseas absentee voters. AB 223 (S. Runner), Chapter
359 of 2007, extended the provisions of AB 2941 that allow
certain absentee ballots to be returned by fax to include
military voters who are called for military service in the
last seven days before an election. Any voter in this
situation would be allowed to apply for an absentee ballot
by fax, and would be allowed to return that absentee ballot
by fax as well.
COMMENTS
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1.According to the author , the time it takes military
personnel serving overseas to request, receive and return
absentee ballots can range anywhere from 24 to 36 days,
creating a significant delay. Even if military personnel
cast their votes on time, their ballots are rejected if
they are received after the deadline. There are 19 other
states that currently allow overseas military absentee
ballots to arrive after the close of the polls on
Election Day. California should not deny this right to
the men and women who serve our country.
2.In-State Military but not Overseas Spouses ? Under this
bill, it is unclear how the elections official would be
able to differentiate between VBM ballots that are
eligible to be received after Election Day and those that
are not, especially since it does not require these
military voters to be overseas in order to qualify.
Furthermore, this bill only applies to members of a
uniformed service on active duty and, unlike the current
definition of "special absentee voter" would not apply to
a civilian voter temporarily living overseas, a voter
serving on a merchant vessel documented under the laws of
the United States, or a spouse or dependent of a member
of the armed forces.
3.How Late is Too Late ? Requiring elections officials to
accept VBM ballots up to 21 days after the election could
jeopardize the ability of elections officials to certify
the election by the current 28-day deadline. Any
jurisdiction using an instant-runoff (IRV) or ranked
choice (RCV) election system would be additionally
impacted. Currently, the City and County of San
Francisco elects its local candidates via RCV while the
cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro are expected
to start using a RCV system in 2010.
4.Related Legislation . This bill is similar to a portion
of SB 370 (Runner) which is also pending before this
committee as well as AB 1367 (Fletcher) and AB 1415
(Adams) which are pending in the Assembly Committee on
Elections and Redistricting.
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Vietnam Veterans of America, California State
Council
Support: Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States,
Department of
California
The American Legion, Department of California
Oppose: None received
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