BILL ANALYSIS
SB 970
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Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 970 (Corbett) - As Amended: June 29, 2010
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the establishment of preelection polling
places at three college campuses for at least one general
election prior to December 31, 2016. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the Secretary of State (SOS), with the consent of
the relevant local elections officials, to establish in
conjunction with the college campus, preelection day voting
polling places at the following: one campus of the University
of California (UC) with at least 20,000 students; one campus
of the California State University (CSU) with at least 13,000
students; and one campus of the California Community Colleges
(CCC) with at least 10,000 students.
2)Requires each college campus selected per (1) to serve as a
polling place for any precinct within the county where the
campus is located, and requires the polling place to be open
for five business days prior to the date of the election.
3)Requires the county elections officials for the participating
sites, within six months after the election, to report
specified information to the SOS regarding the use of the
preelection polling places, and requires the SOS, based on
this information, to report its assessment to the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable cost for the SOS to designate the three
participating campuses and to report to the Legislature. Costs
to the campuses should be minimal and any costs to counties
would not be state-reimbursable, as implementation of the bill
is completely voluntary for any county.
SB 970
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COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "SB 970 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 5 days before an election. New students who participate
re-register to vote with their new campus address, often
encouraged by student associations on campus, may find polling
places unfamiliar. A central voting location on
campus-familiar to students, faculty, and staff-will increase
accessibility for students to vote on Election Day." The
author also asserts that the bill's reporting requirement will
provide a better understanding of the costs of the early
voting option.
Notwithstanding the author's stated desire to assess the
desirability of offering early voting, current state law
permits elections officials to establish early voting
locations, and some counties already do so. This is still
relatively uncommon at any location other than the office of
the elections official, in large part due to logistical
hurdles that make it difficult for elections officials to
operate satellite early voting locations.
2)Concerns . Both the Secretary of State and the California
Association of Clerks and Elections Officials have expressed
certain logistical and cost-related concerns with the bill.
Presumably, however, no elections official would choose to
participate in this process without the confidence that they
could adequately address all such issues.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081