BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 970|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 970
Author: Corbett (D)
Amended: 6/1/10
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM : 3-2, 4/6/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu
NOES: Denham, Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-3, 5/27/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Corbett, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Denham, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cox
SUBJECT : Preelection day voting
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill creates the Preelection Day Voting
Polling Places Pilot Program by permitting the Secretary of
State in conjunction with the county elections officials to
establish preelection day voting polling places on two
college campuses in the state, for at least one general
election from January 1, 2011, but prior to December 31,
2016, as specified.
ANALYSIS : Elections officials are currently required to
designate polling places in each precinct within their
jurisdiction and each polling place can serve a maximum of
1,000 voters. Existing law also allows elections officials
CONTINUED
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wide discretion when establishing polling places as well as
the ability to establish satellite voting locations - this
includes schools and other public buildings.
This bill creates the Preelection Day Voting Polling Places
Pilot Program.
This bill allows the Secretary of State (SOS), in
conjunction with the county elections officials, to
establish preelection day voting polling places on two
college campuses in the state, for at least one general
election from January 1, 2011, but prior to December 31,
2016, subject to the following conditions:
1. One of the college campuses shall be within the
University of California. The campus selected must have
at least 20,000 registered students at the time of
selection.
2. One of the college campuses shall be within the
California State University. The campus selected must
have at least 13,000 registered students at the time of
selection.
3. Preelection day voting shall not take place absent the
voluntary consent of the local elections official within
whose jurisdiction a preelection day voting polling
place would be located.
This bill requires each college campus selected to be a
preelection day voting polling place to serve as the
polling place for any voter that resides within the
county's jurisdiction.
This bill requires a preelection day voting polling place
to be open during the five business days prior to the date
of the election.
This bill provides that a preelection day voting polling
place may not be established for any election other than a
general election as it applies to the pilot program.
This bill requires each county elections official who has a
preelection day voting polling place within his or her
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jurisdiction during an election to report to the
Legislature and the SOS regarding the election within six
months after the date of the election. This pilot project
report shall include, at a minimum, statistics regarding
the cost of a preelection day voting polling place, the
turnout of voters at the preelection day voting polling
place, and any problems with preelection day polling place
voting that has been made known to the elections official.
The SOS, after receiving the reports from the county
elections officials, but not later than eight months after
the date of the election, shall report to the Legislature
regarding an assessment of early voting on college campuses
by examining the participation in the program as well as
the costs to the state for implementing this bill on these
two campuses.
The pilot project created by this bill will remain in
effect only until December 31, 2016, and as of that date is
repealed.
Background
According to the Senate Elections and Reapportionment
Committee analyses, feedback obtained from several counties
with experience in running polling places on colleges
campuses indicated that while there is a convenience factor
associated with running a polling place on campus, such as
getting students to work at the poll site, ADA compliance,
and convenience for students with busy schedules and
limited means of transportation, there would also come with
it high rates of provisional voting, as many students would
likely be registered in their "home" county. There would
be low turnout from the student population during
non-Presidential election years; the facility may not
always be the best room for voting, sometimes sharing a
room with another event, or often the area or room with the
highest foot traffic is not available. It was also noted
that if voting is taking place outside the normal building
hours, or if access outside 9am-5pm M-F is necessary,
there's potential of getting locked out. Storage of
precinct supplies would be problematic; there would be need
for crowd control as well as the usual parking issues for
non-student voters.
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Related legislation
AB 3024 (Wolk) of 2006 would have authorized Solano County
to conduct a pilot project whereby the county elections
official would establish vote centers in lieu of polling
places in each precinct. The Governor vetoed AB 3024
stating:
While the vote center system may offer some advantages
over the current precinct-based voting system, the
proposed pilot project would reduce the number of
voting locations by 80 percent, and thereby
significantly increase the distance that voters would
have to travel in order to vote. This burden would
fall disproportionately on those who are less mobile,
frequently the poor, disabled, and elderly.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/1/10)
Associated Students of San Diego State University
California Common Cause
California State Student Association
California Teachers Association
Los Angeles County Democratic Party
California Young Democrats
New America Foundation
San Francisco Young Democrats
United Auto Workers, Local 2865
University of California Student Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
this bill expands accessibility for the electorate.
Students who often may register for the first time with
their college campus address or who may have re-registered
as a part of a voter registration drive will now have
access to a polling place over multiple days. While the
program places these early voting centers on campus, these
voting centers will be available to the public at large.
In dense urban and suburban areas, which many UCs and CSUs
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are located, this may serve not just a college community,
but the broader community as well. The author also cites
cost findings from a report, that early voting centers
showed to be an affordable option, as the costs in the
voting centers demonstrated a 24 percent savings on a cost
per vote basis.
DLW:nl 6/1/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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