BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1102 HEARING DATE:
4/20/10
AUTHOR: LIU ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 4/7/10
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Special vacancy elections: vote by mail
DESCRIPTION
Existing law permits a local election to be conducted
wholly by mail if the governing body authorizes the use of
mailed ballots for the election, the election occurs on an
established mailed ballot election date, and the election
is one of the following:
An election in which no more than 1,000 registered voters
are eligible to participate;
An election in a city, county, or district with 5,000 or
fewer registered voters that is restricted to the
imposition of special taxes, expenditure limitation
overrides, or both;
An election on the issuance of a general obligation water
bond;
An election in one of four specifically enumerated water
districts; or,
An election or assessment ballot proceeding required or
authorized by the state constitution under Proposition
218 (Proposition 218 of 1996 ensured that all assessments
and other property-related fees are subject to voter
approval).
Existing law authorizes a school district or city with a
population of 100,000 or less to conduct an all-mail ballot
election to fill a vacancy in a special election and
authorizes any district to conduct any election as an
all-mailed ballot election on any date other than an
established election date.
Existing law provides that whenever there are 250 or fewer
people registered to vote in any precinct, the elections
official may deem the precinct as an all-mail ballot
precinct. However, no precinct may be divided solely in
order to create an all-mail precinct.
Existing law provides that for each all-mail ballot
election and in each all-mail ballot precinct, the
elections official must furnish each voter with a vote by
mail ballot (VBM).
Existing law provides that once a legislative or
congressional vacancy occurs, the Governor has 14 days to
issue a proclamation declaring the date of the special
election(s). The special run-off election must occur
between 112 and 126 days after the date of the proclamation
with the special primary election occurring the eighth
Tuesday preceding the special run-off, except as specified.
The Governor may extend the 112-126 day window to 180 days
if it will allow either the special run-off or special
primary to coincide with an existing state or local
election involving at least half the voters in the affected
jurisdiction.
Existing law provides that at the special primary election
all candidates are listed on a single ballot regardless of
party affiliation and if any candidate receives a majority
of all votes cast, he or she shall be declared elected, and
no special run-off election is held. If no candidate
receives a majority of votes cast at the special primary
election, the top vote-getting candidate from each
qualified political party will appear on the special
run-off election ballot along with the top vote-getting
independent candidate (if any).
This bill would also permit a special primary or run-off
election called to fill a legislative or congressional
vacancy to be conducted wholly by mail provided that the
board of supervisors of each county within the affected
jurisdiction authorizes the all-mail ballot election.
This bill would require the elections official to mail a
notice prior to the election to voters which does all of
the following:
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Notify the voter that the election is being conducted by
all mail ballot.
Indicate the last date ballots will be mailed to voters
who were registered at least 29 days before the election.
Instruct the voter how to obtain a replacement ballot if
the first ballot is not received at least 15 days before
the election.
List the locations established for the return of voted
ballots.
This bill would require the elections official to establish
locations for the return of voted ballots as follows:
One location for each 25,000 registered voters, or
portion thereof, in the jurisdiction after subtraction of
permanent vote by mail voters, including military and
overseas voters.
Each location must be open on Election Day from 7:00 a.m.
until 8:00 p.m. and may be open other days and times at
the discretion of the elections official.
Each location must be staffed by a minimum of two
persons.
In selecting the locations, the elections official shall
give preference and priority to the following: facilities
that are accessible to voters with disabilities; schools,
government buildings, halls, churches, community rooms,
conference rooms, and multipurpose facilities; facilities
with a minimum of 20 parking spaces reserved for voters
or, in lieu thereof, ample space to provide drive-through
services; and, facilities located near major
thoroughfares.
This bill would require that any voter returning a voted
ballot to a designated location must sign a roster with his
or her signature and printed name. If the voter has
authorized a person to return his or her voted ballot on
his or her behalf pursuant to existing law, the person
returning the voted ballot must sign the roster with his or
her signature, printed name, the name of the voter for whom
he or she is returning the ballot, and his or her
relationship to the voter.
This bill would not permit a county to participate in the
all-mail ballot special election if it is covered by the
pre-clearance requirements of Section 5 of the federal
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Kings, Merced, Monterey and Yuba
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counties). This provision of the Voting Rights Act
requires affected jurisdictions to submit changes to
election and voting procedures to the U.S. Department of
Justice for approval prior to implementation.
BACKGROUND
A Little All-Mail History . Oregon is the only state that
conducts all of its statewide elections on an all-mail
basis. Other states, including California, permit all mail
ballot elections only under specific conditions - usually
for local or special elections. Two counties - Alpine and
Sierra - conduct all-mail ballot elections for all local,
state, and federal elections thanks to a provision of law
that allows counties with precincts that have fewer than
250 voters in them to turn them in to all-mail ballot
precincts.
Several California counties have conducted all-mail ballot
elections. Monterey conducted one of the first
vote-by-mail elections ever held in the United States in
1977 on a flood control measure. Alpine County conducted
its first all-mail election in November, 1993 for a
countywide special election. San Diego used all-mail
balloting in May 1981 for a measure proposing to build a
$224 million convention center. Stanislaus County
conducted its first all-mail ballot election in 1987 for
the Modesto City Charter.
In 1992, the Legislature approved a pilot project in
Stanislaus and Placer counties. The counties were allowed
to conduct all-mail ballot elections. Placer County did
not utilize this pilot project but Stanislaus County
conducted the 1993 Statewide Special Election as an
all-mail ballot election.
All-mail ballot elections conducted in California as well
as other states have generally shown increases in voter
turnout and significant decreases in the cost of conducting
elections. During Stanislaus County's all-mail ballot
pilot project, the County saved almost half of its usual
election expenditures. Stanislaus County generally
reported turnout levels at six to eight percentage points
below the state's average. During the 1993 Statewide
Special Election, the County's turnout was 6.8 percent
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higher than the statewide average during that election.
Oregon has been conducting all-mail ballot elections for
non-partisan and ballot measure elections for 20 years. In
1998 the voters passed an initiative expanding vote-by-mail
to primary and general elections.
A Little Special Election History . According to the
Secretary of State:
In the last 20 years, there have been 96 special primary
and general elections to fill vacant seats in the
Assembly, Senate and Congress in California, an average
of 4.8 per year.
The highest voter turnout for a special election that did
not coincide with an already scheduled statewide election
was 52.2 percent in 1998 when Lois Capps was elected to
fill a vacancy in the 22nd Congressional District.
In 2009, the voter turnout in the special elections to
fill the vacancies in Senate District 26 and Assembly
District 51 garnered the lowest voter turnout in the last
20 years, when 7.9 percent of the electorate turned out
to vote in each election.
In the January 12, 2010 Special General Election in the
72nd Assembly District, 15.6 percent of voters turned out
to vote, and 81 percent of voters voted by mail.
The average voter turnout in special elections since 1990
is 24.7 percent.
The most special legislative and congressional elections
in a single year since 1990: 18 in 1993. The combined
average voter turnout for those elections was 27 percent.
Since 1990, there has been at least one special election
every year, except in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
The cost of a special election can vary widely and
differs from county to county.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author , this bill will let counties
conduct vote-by-mail elections to fill vacancies in
Congress, the state Senate, or state Assembly. Voting by
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mail reduces the cost of elections, makes voting more
efficient, and can increase participation in the election
process. All-mail ballot elections conducted in
California as well as other states have generally
increased voter turnout and decreased election costs.
Oregon conducts all elections by mail and at least 17
other states conduct certain elections by mail or allow
local officials the option of conducting elections by
mail, according to the National Conference of State
Legislatures.
2.Ceding Authority . This bill would cede to county
governing boards the authority to decide the method by
which special legislative and congressional vacancy
elections shall be conducted. While counties currently
have the discretion to decide the type of voting system
to be used in all elections (e.g., optically scanned
ballots, direct recording electronic devices, etc.),
current law has not permitted counties to decide other
facets of conducting these elections such as by all-mail
or instant run-off voting.
3.Vote By Mail or Vote at the Polls ? Under state law, any
voter can request a VBM ballot for any election, and any
voter can become a permanent VBM voter. Permanent VBM
voters automatically receive a ballot in the mail for
every election, without the need to re-apply for a VBM
ballot. As such, any voter who prefers to vote by mail
has the ability to do so under existing law. Among the
arguments that supporters of all-mailed ballot elections
frequently make in support of such elections is that
all-mailed ballot elections are more convenient for
voters. However, it is not clear whether this is the
case. Any voter who finds it more convenient to vote by
mail has the option to do so under existing law, and
voters who want to vote by mail at every election can
sign up for permanent VBM status. Some voters, due to
physical disability or language issues, may prefer to
vote at the polls in order to take advantage of access or
help provided by electronic voting machines or bilingual
poll workers.
4.Monterey County Pilot Project . AB 319 (Salinas), Chapter
385 of 2001, allowed Monterey County to conduct any
election within the county wholly by mail, provided that
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the election did not contain a state or federal office.
AB 319 specified that it was to serve as a pilot project
for mailed ballot elections, and required Monterey County
to report to the Legislature and the SOS regarding the
success of the election, including, but not limited to,
any statistics on the increase of voter fraud. The pilot
project ended on December 31, 2005. AB 591 (Salinas) of
2005 sought to extend the pilot project until December
31, 2008, but that bill failed after never being heard in
the Senate Elections Committee.
5.Other Previous Legislation . AB 1228 (Yamada) of 2009
would have permitted Yolo and Santa Clara counties to
conduct specified local elections as all-mail as part of
a pilot project. AB 1228 was vetoed by the Governor.
AB 1654 (Huffman) of 2007 would have allowed jurisdictions
in Calaveras, Marin, Mariposa, Nevada, Plumas, Santa
Barbara, Siskiyou, and Sonoma counties to conduct any
local, special, primary, or general election as an
all-mail ballot election until December 31, 2013. AB
1654 was approved by the Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee but subsequently was amended to
deal with an unrelated issue.
AB 867 (Liu) of 2005 would have authorized Calaveras,
Mendocino, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Sierra, and
Ventura Counties to conduct all elections as all-mail
ballot elections until January 1, 2011. AB 867 was held
on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC)
Urban Counties Caucus
Oppose: Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
(AACRE)
Disability Rights California
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