BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1140
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Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1140 (Yee) - As Amended: June 28, 2010
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill allows a person, after the state has deployed a new
voter registration database (VoteCal), to register and vote and
then vote at any office of a county elections official at any
time between 29 days before election day and up to and including
election day. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a person, in order to use the above procedure, to
provide proof of identity and proof of current residence, as
specified.
2)Requires that an elector who satisfies the requirements in
(1), and whose personal information is successfully verified
using VoteCal, may vote by regular ballot, and otherwise by
provisional ballot.
3)Requires elections officials to compile an index of voters
registering pursuant to the above after completion of the
official canvas following an election, review names on the
list, and cancel any duplicate registrations.
4)Stipulates that all of the above is operative on January 1 of
the year following the date when the SOS determines that
VoteCal is implemented.
FISCAL EFFECT
Moderate annual General Fund reimbursable costs of $300,000 to
$600,000, assuming $5,000 to $10,000 per county to operate a
single one-stop voting center at the county elections office.
(According to the author's staff, this is the intent of the
bill.) This includes the costs of staffing the center, providing
SB 1140
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sufficient ballot types for a voter residing anywhere in the
county, processing the additional voter registrations, and any
additional handling associated with processing the ballots of
one-stop voters. These costs will vary by county, and could be
higher over time to the extent high demand for this type of
voting would lead to the operation of additional one-stop voting
operations.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "California currently ranks
41st out of 50 states in voter turnout. Research has shown
that election-day registration can boost voter turnout
considerably-up to 7 percentage points. SB 1140 deletes the
arbitrary timelines which prevent eligible citizens from
voting in elections. This is a modest bill that will allow
eligible citizens to register and vote on Election Day at one
site per county."
2)Election Day Registration in Other States : The following
states have some form of election day voter registration:
Connecticut (for presidential elections only), Idaho, Iowa,
Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina,
Wisconsin and Wyoming. North Dakota has no voter registration
requirement at all.
3)VoteCal Status : VoteCal is the name that the SOS has given to
California's federally-mandated interactive statewide voter
registration database. Last September, the SOS executed a
contract with Catalyst Consulting Group to develop the VoteCal
system, and VoteCal development commenced shortly thereafter
with an estimated completion date of late-2011 or early-2012.
However, due to a number of factors, the SOS and Catalyst
Consulting Group recently agreed to cancel this contract. As a
result, the VoteCal contract will have to be re-bid, and the
project will likely not be completed until sometime after
2012.
4)Opposition . The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is
concerned with the costs to counties for implementing this
bill and the increased potential for election fraud.
5)Related Legislation . An almost identical bill, AB 1531
(Portantino), is pending in Senate Appropriations. When in the
Assembly, AB 1531 addressed a different topic.
SB 1140
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Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081