BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 740
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 1, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                SB 740 (Cedillo) - As Introduced:  February 27, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0  
          (Consent)

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1) Requires elections officials to reject a voted provisional  
             ballot if the provisional ballot envelope is not signed by  
             the voter.

          2) Requires elections officials to retain voted provisional  
             ballots and their envelopes for 22 months from the date of  
             federal elections and six months for non-federal elections.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor state reimbursable costs for county elections officials to  
          comply with the bill's requirements.

           COMMENTS  

           Background and Purpose  .  Current law provides that if a voter  
          claims to be properly registered to vote, but his or her  
          eligibility to vote cannot be established, the voter may cast a  
          provisional ballot, which is sealed in a provisional ballot  
          envelope and signed by the voter.  During the official canvass  
          of election results, elections officials examine the records  
          with respect to all provisional ballots cast, and if a  
          provisional voter's eligibility to vote can be established, the  
          envelope is opened and the provisional ballot is counted.  As  
          part of this process, the signature on the envelope is compared  
          with the one on the voter's affidavit of registration, and the  
          ballot is rejected if the two signatures do not compare.  This  
          bill, sponsored by the Secretary of State, additionally requires  








                                                                  SB 740
                                                                  Page  2

          rejection if the provisional ballot envelope is not signed.   
          Although such instances are rare, with an unsigned envelope  
          there is no way to verify that the voter on record actually cast  
          the provisional ballot.

          Current law requires elections officials to retain specified  
          elections materials for a period of 22 months for federal  
          elections and six months for nonfederal elections in the event  
          that one or more candidate races or measures become the subject  
          of an election contest and the court needs to examine the  
          materials in order to validate or overturn the results of the  
          election..  This bill requires the same retention periods for  
          voted provisional ballots and provisional ballot identification  
          envelopes.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081