BILL ANALYSIS �
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 145|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 145
Author: Pan (D)
Amended: 8/20/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
NOTE: This bill in its current form is similar to SB 205
(Correa, 2011) which was vetoed by the Governor and
AB 2058 (Pan, 2012) which failed passage in the
Senate Public Safety Committee.
SUBJECT : Voter registration: paid registration
activities
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill prohibits any person, company, or
other organization from agreeing to pay money or other
valuable consideration on a per-affidavit basis to any
person who assists another person to register to vote by
receiving the completed affidavit of registration,
prohibits the receipt of this per-affidavit consideration,
and makes conforming changes. A violation of these
prohibitions would be a misdemeanor.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that a person may not be
registered as a voter except by affidavit of registration.
CONTINUED
AB 145
Page
2
(ELEC (ELEC) Section 2102)
Existing law provides that it is the intent of the
Legislature that the election board of each county, in
order to promote and encourage voter registrations, shall
establish a sufficient number of registration places
throughout the county, and outside the county courthouse,
for the convenience of persons desiring to register, to the
end that registration may be maintained at a high level.
(ELEC Section 2103)
Existing law provides that the county elections official
shall keep and maintain a current file listing all persons
appointed or deputized by the county elections official to
register voters, which file shall be open to public
inspection. The file shall include the party affiliation,
if any, of each person listed. (ELEC Section 2108)
Existing law sets forth the requirements for an affidavit
of registration to vote. (ELEC Section 2150 et seq.)
Existing law provides that every person who willfully
causes, procures, or allows himself or herself or any other
person to be registered as a voter, knowing that he/she or
any other person is not entitled to registration, is guilty
of a wobbler. (ELEC Section 18100(a))
Existing law provides that every person who knowingly and
willfully signs, or causes or procures the signing of, an
affidavit of registration of a nonexistent person, and who
mails or delivers, or causes or procures the mailing or
delivery of that affidavit to a county elections official
is guilty of a wobbler. For purposes of this subdivision,
"nonexistent person" includes, but is not limited to,
deceased persons, animals, and inanimate objects. (ELEC
Section 18100(b))
Existing law authorizes any person, company, or other
organization that complies with specified conditions to pay
money or other valuable consideration, on a per-affidavit
basis or otherwise, to any person who assists another
person to register to vote by receiving the completed
affidavit of registration. (ELEC Sections 2159.5 and
CONTINUED
AB 145
Page
3
18108.5)
This bill deletes the authorization to pay a person on a
per affidavit basis to assist another person to register to
vote.
This bill provides that any person who offers to pay or
pays money or other valuable consideration to another
person, either directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit
basis to assist another person to register to vote by
receiving the completed affidavit of registration is guilty
of a misdemeanor.
This bill provides that any person who receives money or
other valuable consideration, either directly or
indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis to assist another
person to register to vote by receiving the completed
affidavit registration is guilty of a misdemeanor.
This bill provides that nothing in this section shall be
construed to prohibit payment for assisting another person
to register to vote by receiving the completed affidavit
which is not either directly or indirectly on a
per-affidavit basis.
Comments
According to the author:
Recently reports of organized voter registration fraud
taking place in Sacramento County have come to light.
Since then we have found that the problem lies with
"Bounty Hunters" companies and organizations that pay
per-affidavit for switched voter registrations cards.
By eliminating per - affidavit payment we will eliminate
an incentive to forge affidavits while protecting the
integrity of voters. This will reduce the volume of
voter cards that are invalid due to fraud thereby
reducing the amount of staff time the county registrars
need to spend validating them. Decreasing the backlog
and strain on the county registrars can save significant
resources for county governments that are struggling in
our difficult budget climate.
CONTINUED
AB 145
Page
4
Jill LaVine, Sacramento County's Registrar of Voters,
recently reported that her office found "numerous"
examples of voters having their political party
affiliation switched to "Republican" against their
wishes. This and many similar reports have taken place
all over California. The Sacramento County Registrar
was also inundated by phone calls the day of the June
election, with more victims of voter registration fraud
that weren't caught until they actually reached the
ballot box. People who went to the polls and received
ballots for parties they never signed up for felt that
their rights as a voter had been violated. Voter
Registration Fraud is a real crime and the victims of
these crimes need to have their voices heard.
Unlawful to Pay or be Paid Per Signature
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures:
It is common for initiative sponsors to pay circulators
on a per-signature basis to gather petition signatures.
Payments typically range from $1 to $3 per signature,
and occasionally are as high as $10 per signature.
Critics argue that this encourages fraud - since a
circulator who collects more signatures will earn more
money, circulators who are paid per signature are more
likely to commit acts of fraud such as forging
signatures or misrepresenting the content of the
petition in order to encourage people to sign.
In three states (North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming),
initiative sponsors are banned from paying petition
circulators per signature. Instead, they may pay a flat
fee or an hourly salary. These laws have been
challenged in the courts with mixed results. North
Dakota and Oregon's provisions have been upheld by the
U.S. 9th and 8th Circuit Courts, respectively. However,
similar provisions in Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, and
Washington were held unconstitutional by federal
district courts.
(http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/laws_petit_c
irculators.htm#banning)
CONTINUED
AB 145
Page
5
Voter Registration Fraud
According to the Secretary of State's Election Fraud
Investigation Unit (EFIU) between 1994, and in 2010 the
EFIU opened 960 cases for fraudulent voter registration or
fraudulently altering party affiliation on voter
registration cards. Out of these, 99 were referred to
district attorneys for prosecution resulting in 64
convictions.
As recently as 2010, the Orange County registrar of voters
and other county elections officials have received hundreds
of complaints from voters who were re-registered with a
political party without their permission. According to
press reports, the companies in charge of these
registration drives have paid workers as much as $8-$10 for
every completed voter registration card.
While some voter registration drives pay employees on an
hourly or salaried basis, other voter registration drives
pay workers a specified amount of money for each completed
voter registration card. In some cases, voter registration
drives that pay workers on a per-registration basis only
pay workers for voters who register with a specific
political party, or pay the workers a larger amount of
money for voters who register with a specific political
party. While these per-registration payments may create
incentives to register voters with a particular political
party, they also may create financial incentives for the
individuals who are registering voters to commit fraud.
In each of the last four election cycles, complaints have
been filed by voters who said they were misled into
changing their party affiliations. According to media
reports of these complaints, the voter registration workers
who were accused of misleading these voters were paid as
much as $15 for each new voter that the worker registered
with a particular political party.
In 2006, complaints were reported in Orange, Riverside, and
San Bernardino Counties. According to the Orange County
CONTINUED
AB 145
Page
6
Register, 11 individuals were eventually convicted of
falsifying voter registrations and other charges in
connection with the complaints in Orange County, and eight
of those 11 served jail time. In 2008, press reports
focused on similar complaints in Los Angeles, Riverside,
San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties; in 2010, complaints
were filed in Orange and Sacramento Counties. Most
recently, similar accusations were brought to light again
in Sacramento County this year. In every instance, media
reports of the complaints indicated that the firms that
were conducting the voter registration drives or the
individuals who were registering voters as part of those
drives were being paid on a per-registration basis.
According to the Secretary of State's EFIU, between 1994
and 2010, the EFIU opened 960 cases for fraudulent voter
registration or fraudulently altering party affiliation on
voter registration cards. Out of these, 99 were referred
to district attorneys for prosecution, resulting in 64
convictions. Since the EFIU was created in 1994, it has
opened more cases, and a larger number of convictions have
been obtained for voter registration fraud than for any
other election crime.
Misdemeanor for Charging on a Per Affidavit Basis
Existing law authorizes a person, company or organization
to pay money or other consideration on a per-affidavit or
otherwise to any person who assists another to register to
vote. This bill would remove the ability to pay a person
on a per-affidavit basis. This bill further would make it
a misdemeanor for a person to pay or receive money on a
per-affidavit basis to register another to vote. Payment
not based on a per-affidavit basis would still be
permitted.
Veto of SB 205 (Correa, 2011)
SB 205 (Correa) was vetoed by Governor Brown whose veto
message states:
I understand the author's desire to stop fraudulent
voter registration. But I don't believe this bill which
CONTINUED
AB 145
Page
7
makes it a crime to pay people for registering voters
based on the number of registrations they secure will
help.
Voting is at the heart of our democracy. Efforts to
register voters should be encouraged, not criminalized.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/23/12)
Secretary of State
DLW:k 8/23/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED