BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 293
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Date of Hearing: April 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 293 (Hill) - As Introduced: February 9, 2011
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires election officials to establish a free access
system that allows a vote-by-mail (VBM) voter to confirm whether
their VBM ballot was counted and, if not, the reason it was not
counted.
FISCAL EFFECT
Given that similar notifications are already required for
provisional ballots and that VBM voters may already obtain
information regarding whether their ballot was received (see
Comment #2), any additional reimbursable costs to comply with
this bill's provision should be minor.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Under current law, there are a number of reasons why
a VBM ballot that was completed and returned to the elections
official may not be counted. Two of the most common reasons
are (a) ballots arriving after election day, and (b) the
signature on the identification envelope does not match the
one on the original affidavit of registration. (Illness and
age can be factors that contribute to a signature changing
over time.)
By providing VBM voters an opportunity to verify if their
ballot has been counted, and a reason if it was not counted,
voters whose ballots were unable to be counted can take
appropriate steps to ensure that their VBM ballots are counted
in the future.
2)Prior Legislation .
AB 293
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a) AB 84 (Hill) of 2009, which required county elections
officials to establish procedures to provide the same
information as this bill, was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger over concerns about adding a cost burden to
counties. A substantially similar bill, AB 2964 (Levine)
of 2008, was one of numerous bills summarily vetoed by the
governor without a stated objection.
b) AB 2616 (Hill) of 2010, which would have allowed VBM
voters to check their status on the Secretary of State's
website upon implementation of the statewide voter
registration database, was vetoed over cost concerns.
c) SB 1725 (Bowen)/Chapter 687 of 2006, requires election
officials to establish procedures to track and confirm the
receipt of VBM ballots and to make this information
available by means of online access using the county's
elections division web site, or if none is available, by
means of a toll-free telephone number.
d) SB 613 (Perata)/Chapter 613 of 2003, in part required
the establishment of a free access system allowing a voter
casting a provisional ballot to confirm whether the ballot
was counted and, if not, the reason it was not counted.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081