BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 663
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 663 (Morrell) - As Introduced: February 17, 2011
SUBJECT : Elections: voter identification.
SUMMARY : Requires a voter to present proof of identification
before being permitted to sign the roster of voters and receive
a ballot. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines the phrase "proof of identification," for the purposes
of this bill, as a document that satisfies all of the
following:
a) The document shows the name of the individual to whom
the document was issued and the name conforms to the name
on the individual's voter registration record;
b) The document shows a photograph of the individual;
c) The document includes an expiration date, and the
document is either not expired, or the document expired
after the date of the most recent general election; and,
d) The document was issued by the United States or the
State of California.
2)Provides that if a voter is unable or declines to present
proof of identification, or if a member of the precinct board
determines that the proof of identification does not meet the
requirements of this bill, the voter may request and be issued
a provisional ballot and be permitted to vote that ballot.
3)Provides that the provisional ballot will be counted only if,
within 10 days following the election, the voter provides the
required proof of identification to the county voter
registration office or establishes that they are exempted from
such a requirement.
4)Exempts a voter who resides at a state-licensed care facility
that is being used as a polling place from the requirements of
this bill.
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5)Exempts a vote by mail voter or special absentee voter who
votes his or her ballot by mail from the requirements of this
bill.
6)Allows a voter, who declares that he or she has a religious
objection to being photographed by executing a sworn affidavit
before a superior court clerk, or county election board, in a
manner prescribed by the board, to vote by providing a copy of
the signed affidavit and proof of identification that meets
all the criteria specified by this bill, except for the
photograph.
7)Permits a registered voter to obtain a state-issued
identification card from the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) at no cost once for each period of validity of the card,
for the purposes of complying with this bill.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires a voter who appears at the polling place to vote to
announce his or her name and address to a precinct officer.
Requires the precinct officer, upon finding the name in the
roster of voters, to repeat the voter's name and address.
Requires the voter to then write his or her name and residence
address on a roster of voters, whereupon the voter is provided
a ballot.
2)Permits a voter to vote a provisional ballot if his or her
qualification or entitlement to vote cannot be immediately
established upon examination of the roster of voters for the
precinct or upon examination of the records on file with the
county elections official.
3)Authorizes a member of the precinct board to challenge the
ability of a person to vote on various grounds, including that
the voter is not the person whose name appears on the index,
is not a precinct resident, is not a U.S. citizen, has already
voted on that day, or is on parole for the conviction of a
felony.
4)Provides that any person who votes more than once, attempts to
vote more than once, or impersonates or attempts to
impersonate a voter at an election is guilty of a crime
punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months
or two or three years, or in a county jail not exceeding one
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year.
5)Requires a voter who submits his or her voter registration
form by mail and who has not previously voted to present one
of a number of specified documents to establish identity
before receiving a ballot. This requirement only applies the
first time an individual votes after registering to vote.
6)Requires a person to pay a fee of $26 to obtain a California
identification card, with certain exceptions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author, "As it stands,
California's election system serves as an open invitation to
fraud and is critically in need of reform. Although the
amount of fraud is extremely difficult to measure,
�Californians] expect and deserve a secure process that
ensures ballot integrity. Currently, there are no safeguards
to ensure that non-eligible persons such as convicted felons,
and fictitious persons, or those using the names of the
deceased, do not vote. Voters are disenfranchised by the
counting of improperly cast ballots and their civil rights are
violated just as surely as if they were prevented from
voting."
2)Limited Types of Fraud Addressed by Identification
Requirements : The author contends that the intent of this
bill is to combat voter fraud. However, the requirement to
provide proof of identification would only apply to voters
seeking to vote at the polls and would have no impact on those
voters who are increasingly choosing to vote by mail. In
addition, verifying a voter's identification prior to voting
only addresses the type of potential fraud whereby an
individual claims to be someone they are not and attempts to
vote as that person.
3)Existing Protections : As noted above, a voter who wishes to
vote at the polls on election day must have and confirm his or
her name and address on the roster of voters. If a voter's
name is not on the roster, that person is allowed to vote a
provisional ballot, which is later reviewed by the elections
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official to determine the person's right to vote, before being
included in the official canvass. As such, the roster of
voters plays a big role on election day to minimize the
occurrence of fraud. Current law requires county election
officials to take several steps to ensure that the voter rolls
are accurate, such as continuous review and maintenance of the
rolls to remove obsolete, duplicative, and non-eligible names.
Other efforts required by law to reduce potential fraud include
a voter fraud hotline maintained by the Secretary of State
(SOS), the ability of a member of a precinct board to
challenge any person attempting to vote at the polls if the
voter's qualifications to vote are in question, and vigorous
prosecutions by local law enforcement agencies working
together with the SOS's office.
4)Is There a Problem ? According to information provided by the
Secretary of State's Election Fraud Investigation Unit, from
1994 to 2010, there have been 23 convictions for double
voting, 6 convictions for fraudulent voting, and 4 convictions
for non citizen voting. However, it is unclear whether these
acts occurred while a voter was attempting to vote at the
polls, or if the these violations occurred by a vote-by-mail
voter. Given the small number of convictions in the past
decade, it is reasonable to believe that the current efforts
to thwart voter fraud, described above, are working.
5)What About Bob ? This bill provides that the name on the
voter's proof of identification document must conform to the
name on their voter registration record. This requirement has
the potential to disenfranchise otherwise qualified voters
whose voter registration records do not reflect a recent name
change due to marriage or other reason. It could also
similarly disenfranchise persons whose identification contains
their legal name (e.g., Robert, James, Catherine, Elizabeth,
etc.) but who registered to vote under a commonly used
nickname (e.g., Bob, Jimmy, Cathy, Betty, etc.)
6)Voters Who Lack ID : A November 2006 survey by the Brennan
Center for Justice found that 11% of United States citizens do
not have government-issued photo identification. To the
extent that this figure is reflective of the California
electorate, it is possible that a significant number
Californians who are eligible and registered to vote do not
have a form of identification that would meet the requirements
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of this bill. This same survey also demonstrated that certain
groups - primarily poor, elderly, and minority citizens - are
less likely to possess these forms of identification.
Although this bill allows an individual to obtain an
identification card at no cost from the DMV, it does not
provide any assistance to those individuals to meet the
sometimes difficult requirements of obtaining an
identification card. For example, in order to be issued a
card, an individual must go to a DMV office during business
hours and provide, among other things, verification of birth
date by submitting documents such as a certified copy from the
state or local vital statistics office of the individual's
birth certificate. Such documentation may be difficult to
obtain and typically requires an additional fee.
7)Provisional Ballots : This bill allows any voter who is unable
to present a valid form of identification to cast a
provisional ballot. However, this bill also provides that the
provisional ballot will only be counted if the voter presents
the required form of identification to the county voter
registration office within 10 business days of voting. This
could present a significant obstacle to these voters. Even if
the voter in question has valid photo identification, but does
not have that identification at the polling place on election
day, that voter could be forced, in some large counties, to
travel several hours to provide the registrar of voters with
valid identification in order to have his or her ballot
counted. In situations where the voter does not have valid
identification, it is highly unlikely that the voter would be
able to obtain such identification in the 10 days after the
election.
8)Changing Procedures : This bill would change the procedures
that voters are currently used to when going to the polls on
election day. However, this bill does not include any
additional outreach efforts to ensure that all voters are
educated about the new procedures. Increased voter confusion
due to these new requirements could significantly slow the
processing of voters and commensurately increase wait times at
polling places. To the extent that this bill results in
longer lines at polling places, this bill could also result in
reduced voter participation by those voters who are not
willing or able to wait in the longer polling place lines.
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9)Elections Mandates : The 2011-2012 State Budget that was
approved by the Legislature on March 17, 2011, suspends most
existing state-mandated local programs as a mechanism for cost
savings. Among the mandates that were suspended were a
requirement for counties to allow any voter to become a
permanent VBM voter and a requirement for counties to tabulate
VBM ballots by precinct. In fact, all six existing
elections-related mandates were suspended in the 2011-2012
budget bill. The Committee may wish to consider whether it is
desirable to establish new election mandates on counties when
the Legislature has voted to suspend the existing election
mandates.
10)Related Legislation : AB 945 (Donnelly), which is also being
heard in this committee today, would require a person desiring
to vote to produce and show a valid form of state-issued
photographic identification to the precinct worker at the
polling place, among other provisions.
SB 802 (Runner), which is pending in the Senate Elections and
Constitutional Amendments Committee, also requires a voter to
present proof of identity before receiving a ballot at the
polling place, among other provisions.
11)Previous Legislation : AB 1399 (Anderson) of 2009, would have
required a voter to present proof of identity and residency
before receiving a ballot at the polling place. That bill was
subsequently gutted and amended for an unrelated purpose.
AB 1356 (Bill Berryhill) of 2009, would have also required a
voter to present photo identification before receiving a
ballot at the polling place. AB 1415 (Adams) of 2009, would
have required a voter to present proof of identification prior
to receiving a ballot at the polls on election day, among
other provisions. Both of these bills failed passage in this
committee.
SB 370 (George Runner) of 2009, would have required a person who
desires to vote at the polls on election day to show specified
proof of identification and would have required the Department
of Motor Vehicles to waive the fee for an identification card
requested for satisfying this requirement, among other
provisions. SB 465 (Huff) of 2009, would have required all
voters, prior to receiving a ballot at the polls, to present
photo identification issued by the United States, the State of
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California, or a tribal government. Both of these bills
failed passage in the Senate Committee on Elections,
Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Capitol Resource Family Impact
Opposition
American Civil Liberties Union
California Immigrant Policy Center
Analysis Prepared by : Maria Garcia / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094