BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1201
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Date of Hearing: May 3, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1201 (Fong) - As Amended: March 31, 2011
SUBJECT : Voter registration.
SUMMARY : Conforms the voter registration deadline, for
affidavits of registration that have been received by the wrong
county, to other voter registration deadlines in existing law.
Specifically, this bill provides that a voter's registration,
that has been forwarded to the county elections official of the
county in which the elector resides by a different county
elections official, is effective for all elections occurring 15
or more days, as opposed to 29 or more days, after receipt of
the affidavit of registration by the county elections official
or his or her deputy to which the affidavit is mailed or
delivered by the voter.
EXISTING LAW
1)Permits the county elections official of any county in this
state to receive the affidavit of registration of any elector
who resides or claims residence in another county in this
state. Requires the affidavit be forwarded to the county
elections official of the county in which the elector resides.
2)Requires the county elections official of the county in which
the elector resides to use the affidavit of registration from
the other county as his or her permanent record. Provides
that registration by this method be effective for all
elections occurring 29 or more days after receipt of the
affidavit of registration by the county elections official or
his or her deputy to which the affidavit is mailed or
delivered by the elector.
3)Provides that a person may not be registered as a voter except
by affidavit of registration. Provides that a properly
executed registration is deemed effective upon receipt of the
affidavit by the county elections official if received on or
before the 15th day prior to an election.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
AB 1201
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reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
State law provides that if a voter registration card is
delivered to the wrong county, that card is still valid,
and the county that receives the card is required to
forward it to the correct county. The voter's registration
is effective beginning with the next election that is at
least 29 days after the date that the original county
receives the card.
However, 11 years ago, the Legislature changed the deadline
to register to vote, moving the deadline from the 29th day
before the election to the 15th day before the election,
but the law governing registration cards that are delivered
to the wrong county was not updated. As a result, if a
voter's registration is delivered to the wrong county
between the 29th and the 15th day before the election, that
voter can be denied the right to vote, even if the voter
was not responsible for the registration being delivered to
the wrong county, and even though the voter registered by
the state's voter registration deadline. This bill simply
conforms the law governing mis-delivered voter registration
cards with the existing voter registration deadline.
2)Voter Registration Deadline : In 2000, the California
Legislature passed AB 1094 (Hertzberg), Chapter 899, Statutes
of 2000, which moved up the voter registration deadline from
29 days prior to an election to 15 days prior to an election.
However, this bill did not make the corresponding changes to
sections of the law that deal with affidavits of registration
that are received by the wrong county, and as a result state
voter registration deadlines are inconsistent.
This bill will change the timeframe an affidavit of registration
must be received in order to be processed if it was mailed to
the wrong county. The timeframe established by this bill is
consistent with the voter registration deadline under existing
law.
3)Related Legislation : SB 641 (Calderon) would establish
conditional voter registration. This bill is pending in
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Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Faculty Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Maria Garcia / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094