BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1434
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1434 (Price)
As Amended June 24, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-11
ELECTIONS 5-2
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|Ayes:|Fong, Adams, Mendoza, | | |
| |Saldana, Swanson | | |
| | | | |
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|Nays:|Bill Berryhill, Gatto | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Provides that if a person fails to identify his or her
place of birth on an affidavit of registration, there is a
rebuttable presumption that the person is eligible to register
to vote if he or she marked the box on the affidavit indicating
that he or she is a citizen of the United States. Allows a
county elections official to e-mail a voter who submitted an
incomplete affidavit of registration in order to obtain the
information that was missing on the affidavit from the voter.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that a person may not be registered as a voter except
by affidavit of registration.
2)Requires the affidavit of registration to show, among other
things, the affiant's name, place of residence, date of birth,
state or country of birth, and party affiliation.
3)Provides that if the county elections official receives an
affidavit of registration that does not include portions of
the information for which space is provided, the county
elections official shall apply the following rebuttable
presumptions:
a) If no middle name or initial is shown, it is presumed
that none exists;
SB 1434
Page 2
b) If no party affiliation is shown, it is presumed that
the affiant has no party affiliation;
c) If no execution date is shown, it is presumed that the
affidavit was executed on or before the 15th day prior to
the election if the affidavit is received by the county
elections official on or before the 15th day prior to the
election or if the affidavit is postmarked on or before the
15th day prior to the election and is received by mail by
the county elections official; and,
d) If the affiant fails to identify his or her state of
birth within the United States, it is presumed that the
affiant was born in a state or territory of the United
States if the birthplace of the affiant is shown as "United
States," "U.S.A," or some other recognizable term
designating the United States.
4)Provides that if an affidavit of registration does not contain
all of the information required, but the telephone number of
the affiant is legible, the county elections official shall
telephone the affiant and attempt to collect the missing
information. Provides that if an affidavit of registration
does not contain all of the information required, and the
county elections official is not able to collect the missing
information by telephone, but the mailing address of the
affiant is legible, the county elections official shall reject
the affidavit, inform the affiant of the reason for rejection,
and send a new voter registration card to the affiant.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "SB 1434 creates a
rebuttable presumption clarifying that if a registrant fails to
identify his or her place of birth, it is presumed that he or
she is eligible to register to vote as long as he or she marked
the box stating that he or she is a citizen of the United States
and signs the affidavit under penalty of perjury. This proposal
will allow county elections officials to process a voter
registration card that is missing this information without
needing to contact the registrant by phone or mail. Counties
may realize a cost savings to the extent that staff is not
required to contact registrants to obtain this information."
SB 1434
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The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-31),
also known as "Motor Voter," requires every state to accept a
uniform federal voter registration application by mail, among
other provisions. Under Motor Voter, the federal voter
registration application may require only such identifying
information and other information as is necessary to enable the
appropriate election official to assess the eligibility of the
applicant and to administer voter registration and other parts
of the election process. As a result, the federal voter
registration application, which is accepted for voter
registration in California pursuant to federal law, does not
request information about the applicant's place of birth.
Because the uniform federal voter registration application does
not contain a space for the applicant's place of birth, any
Californian who registers to vote using that form will have his
or her registration processed even though he or she has not
specified his or her place of birth on the voter registration
application. On the other hand, any voter who attempts to
register using the state's voter registration affidavit and who
leaves the space for "place of birth" blank does not have his or
her registration processed unless the county elections official
is able to contact that voter and obtain that information from
the voter.
Given the fact that a person's place of birth is not relevant in
determining whether that person is eligible to vote, it is
unclear why a voter registration made on the uniform federal
form should be treated differently than an application on the
state form, as is the case under existing law.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0005003