BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1404 HEARING DATE: 4/6/10
AUTHOR: PAVLEY ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: ballot cards and voting systems
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to adopt
regulations governing the manufacture, distribution, and
inventory control of punchcards, and requiring the
inspection of facilities that manufacture and store
punchcards.
Existing law requires the SOS to approve a punchcard
manufacturer prior to the manufacturers providing of
punchcards for use in California elections.
This bill :
Requires a voting system vendor that knows of, or
becomes aware of, a defect, fault, or failure in the
voting system or a part of the voting system, to notify
the SOS and all local elections officials who use the
system of that defect, fault, or failure. Requires this
notification to be made within 30 calendar days from the
date after the vendor learns of the defect, fault, or
failure, or at the time the system is submitted for
review by the SOS. Requires all known defects, faults,
or failures on systems that are currently approved for
use in California to be disclosed no later than January
8, 2011.
Requires the SOS to notify the United States Election
Assistance Commission of any defect, fault, or failure
disclosed to the SOS by a voting system vendor pursuant
to this bill.
Requires a ballot card manufacturer or finisher to
disclose any known flaw or defect in its manufacturing
or finishing process in writing to the SOS not later
than five working days before the SOS begins his/her
initial inspection of that manufacturer's or finisher's
facilities. Requires a ballot card manufacturer or
finisher that has been approved by the SOS to notify the
SOS and affected local elections officials in writing
within two business days after it discovers any flaw or
defect in its manufacturing or finishing process.
Requires the SOS to inspect manufacturing, finishing,
and storage facilities for ballot cards biennially.
Permits the SOS to seek injunctive and administrative
relief when a voting system or part of a voting system
is defective due to a known hardware, software, or
firmware defect, fault, or failure that has not been
disclosed as required by this bill. Permits the SOS to
seek all of the following relief for a known but
undisclosed defect, fault, or failure in a voting system
or part of a voting system approved or conditionally
approved for use in California:
A. Refund of all moneys paid by a local agency for a
voting system or part of a voting system that is
defective due to a known but undisclosed defect, fault,
or failure.
B. A civil penalty from the offending party not to exceed
$50,000 per violation. Each defect, fault, or failure
shall be considered a separate violation. A defect,
fault, or failure constitutes a single violation
regardless of the number of voting system units in
which the defect, fault, or failure is found.
C. A penalty of $1,000 for each day between the deadline
for the vendor to disclose the defect, fault, or
failure and the day when the required disclosure is
filed with the SOS.
Repeals an obsolete provision of law that establishes a
revolving fund for the purchase of ballot paper.
SB 1404 (PAVLEY) Page
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Changes terminology in the Elections Code from
"punchcards" to "ballot cards."
BACKGROUND
The Humboldt County Incident . Currently, ballot vendors or
voting system vendors are not required to inform the SOS
about previously undisclosed flaws in their product before
or after an election. A recent incident in Humboldt County
during the November 2008 elections found that Premier
Elections Solutions (formerly Diebold), GEMS software
erroneously deleted nearly 200 votes cast.
It was later learned that while Premier was aware of the
problem at least four years before the election in which
its effects came to light in Humboldt County, and although
Premier made limited attempts (pre-election) to notify
affected counties of the software flaw, they failed to
provide notice of the defect to the National Association of
State Election Directors, the United States Election
Assistance Commission, the SOS or to the public.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , "SB 1404 is designed to
ensure the integrity of California's voting system and
requires notification steps to prevent future errors,
discrepancies and uncertainties surrounding our voting
processes."
2. Related legislation . SB 541 (Pavley), 2009 was
almost identical to this bill, but was vetoed by the
Governor due to concerns over civil penalty provisions
placed on voting system vendors.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Secretary of State
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
SB 1404 (PAVLEY) Page
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