BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 293|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 293
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/8/11
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, De Le�n, Lieu
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 7/11/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/11/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Vote by mail ballots
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires elections officials to
establish a free access system that allows a vote by mail
voter to find out whether his/her ballot was counted and,
if not, the reason why the ballot was not counted.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Outlines procedures for voting by mail and establishes
requirements for elections officials to compare the
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signature on a vote by mail (VBM) ballot envelope with
that appearing on the affidavit of registration.
Provides that if the ballot is rejected because the
signatures do not compare, the envelope shall not be
opened and the ballot shall not be counted. Requires
the cause of the rejection to be written on the face of
the identification envelope.
2. Requires elections 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 Internet Web site.
Provides that if the county does not have an elections
division Internet Web site, the elections official shall
establish a toll-free telephone number that may be used
to confirm the date a voted VBM ballot was received.
3. Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a
free access system to allow any voter who casts a
provisional ballot to discover whether his/her
provisional ballot was counted and, if not, the reason
why it was not counted.
According to the author, "AB 293 seeks to provide the ever
increasing number of vote-by-mail voters the opportunity to
determine if their ballot was counted and, if not, the
reason it was rejected? As greater and greater numbers of
California voters utilize and rely upon vote-by-mail
ballots to have their voices heard in elections,
transparency in the process and piece-of-mind that their
ballot was included are more important than ever."
Historically, there have been two primary reasons why a VBM
ballot that was completed and returned to the elections
officials may not be counted. One of the most common
reasons is that many ballots are received by the elections
office after Election Day, and state law requires that VBM
ballots be received by the close of polls on Election Day
in order to be counted. A voter who was under the mistaken
impression that his/her ballot would be counted as long as
the envelope was postmarked by Election Day could
repeatedly have his/ her ballot not counted, if that voter
regularly waited until Election Day to put the VBM ballot
in the mail.
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The other primary reason why a VBM ballot might not be
counted is that the signature on the identification
envelope does not match the one on the voter's affidavit of
registration. Illness and age can be factors that
contribute to a signature changing over time. For example,
many older voters do not realize that the signature on file
with the registrar of voters no longer matches their
current signature, and as a result, their VBM ballot may
not be counted. This bill provides a mechanism for voters
to verify if their ballot has been counted and, if not, a
reason why it was not counted. Voters whose ballots were
not counted would be able to take appropriate steps to
ensure their VBM ballots are counted in the future.
Since the passage of AB 1520 (Shelley), Chapter 922,
Statutes of 2001, which allowed any voter to become a
permanent VBM voter, the number of voters choosing to vote
using a VBM ballot has increased significantly. In the
2000 General Election, 24.5 percent of votes cast were VBM
ballots, compared to 41.6 percent in the 2008 General
Election, and 59.6 percent in the 2010 General Election.
These trends suggest that the number of voters opting to
vote by VBM ballot will continue to increase in the future.
In 2002, the federal government passed the Help America
Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 (116 STAT. 1666, Public Law
107-252), which, among other things, required every state
to implement a single, computerized statewide voter
registration list. The SOS has begun the procurement
process for the implementation of California's statewide
database, to be known as VoteCal, as required under HAVA.
Once VoteCal is fully deployed, it will include a feature
to allow a VBM voter to track the status of their VBM
ballot and verify whether or not it was counted, and if
not, the reason why it was not counted.
Prior Legislation . AB 2616 (Hill), Session of 2009-10,
which was substantially similar to this bill, was vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger, who wrote in his veto message; "I
cannot support mandating additional costs in this time of
fiscal crisis. Nothing in current law prohibits county
elections officials from providing this information and I
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would encourage them to do so as resources allow."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, given
that similar notifications are already required for
provisional ballots and that VBM voters may already obtain
information regarding whether their ballots was received,
any additional reimbursable costs to comply with this
bill's provision should be minor.
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/13/11)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
Californians for Electoral Reform
County of San Mateo
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/11/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Gorell, Halderman, Norby,
Vacancy
DLW:kc 7/13/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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