BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 547
Author: Gatto (D)
Amended: 6/21/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 06/14/11
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Calderon, Harman, Liu, Price,
Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 05/26/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Voting
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes it a misdemeanor for a care
provider in a state-licensed facility to coerce an elder
into voting for or against a candidate or measure contrary
to the elder's intent.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that any person who
commits fraud or attempts to commit fraud, and any person
who aids or abets fraud or attempts to aid or abet fraud,
in connection with any vote cast, to be cast, or attempted
to be cast, is guilty of a felony, punishable by
imprisonment for 16 months or two or three years.
(Elections Code � 18500.)
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Existing law provides every person is guilty of a felony
punishable by imprisonment 16 months or two or three years
who furnishes any voter wishing to vote, who cannot read,
with a ballot, informing or giving that voter to understand
that it contains a name written or printed thereon
different from the name which is written or printed
thereon, or defrauds any voter at any election by deceiving
and causing him or her to vote for a different person for
any office than he or she intended or desired to vote for.
(Elections Code � 18573.)
Existing law provides "elder" means any person residing in
this state, 65 years of age or older. (Welfare and
Institutions Code � 15610.27.)
This bill provides that a person is guilty of a misdemeanor
who, while providing care or direct supervision to an elder
in a state-license or state-subsidized facility or program,
coerces or deceives the elder into voting for or against a
candidate or measure contrary to the elder's intent or in
the absence of any intent of the elder to cast a vote for
or against that candidate or measure.
This bill provides that a violation of this section is
punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed
six months or by a fine not to exceed $10,000 per ballot
containing a vote cast by the elder as a result of the
coercion or deception or by both that imprisonment and
fine.
This bill provides that the definition of elder has the
same meaning as set forth in Welfare and Institutions Code
Section 15610.27.
This bill also provides that nothing in this bill shall
preclude prosecution under any other provision.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/8/11)
AARP
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
With the state's population of senior citizens over
the age of 65 expected to double over the next twenty
years, policy makers must now start to make forward
looking policy changes to anticipate the needs of that
demographic in a number of policy areas. Though most
of these discussions have centered on subjects such as
health care and retirement benefits, one area that is
equally deserving of consideration is voting and
voting rights of this population.
With a rising number of our seniors finding themselves
in living situations where they are under continuous
care and/or supervision, there has been a growing body
of work by scholars and policy makers studying how to
best protect the voting rights of this population when
some may find themselves in living situations where
there is a danger of intimidation, deception, or
coercion when it comes to participation in elections.
Congress has even recognized this as an issue of
importance, commissioning a report by the General
Accounting Office (GAO) on the integrity of the voting
process in long-term care facilities � Elderly Voters:
Information on Promising Practices Could Strengthen
the Integrity of the Voting Process in Long-term Care
Facilities (GAO-10-6, Nov. 2009)]. The report noted:
?the number of elderly people who exercise their
right to vote through alternative voting methods,
such as absentee, early, and Election Day mail-in
ballots may grow as more elderly individuals
reside in long-term care facilities. These
residents may also have limited dexterity,
impaired eyesight, or cognitive impairments, such
as dementia, that can make them dependent on
others to read or mark a ballot, regardless of
where the ballot is cast. This makes them
vulnerable to fraud and undue influence from
relatives, long-term care facility staff,
campaign workers, or candidate supporters, who
sometimes provide assistance when casting their
vote.
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Another issue relating to senior citizens and voting
has to do with those who suffer from Alzheimer's
disease or dementia in nursing homes. There have been
instances documented in the national press of staff
requesting absentee ballots for patients and
submitting the ballots to voting officials to be
counted.
It has been difficult to document more cases of this
phenomenon due to the fact that many of these seniors
are unaware or are simply unable to comprehend that
this deception or coercion is taking place; and even
in the cases where there may be awareness, a senior
may be unable to do anything to rectify the situation,
particularly if there is intimidation going on or if
there are no family members either alive or close by
to turn to.
In order to take a proactive policy stance on the
voting rights of senior citizens, �this bill] would
make it a misdemeanor for anyone providing care or
direct supervision to an individual who is 65 years of
age or to coerce or deceive the individual into voting
for or against a candidate or measure contrary to the
individual's intent. This measure would be an
important first step towards developing a more
comprehensive policy on the voting rights of
California's growing population of senior citizens.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 05/26/11 (Consent)
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso,
Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams,
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Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Cedillo, Davis, Gorell, Jones
RJG:nl 7/11/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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