BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1343
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1343 (Fong) - As Introduced: February 18, 2011
SUBJECT : Vote by mail: procedures: permanent vote by mail
voters: failure to return ballot.
SUMMARY : Requires a voter's name to be deleted from the
permanent vote by mail (PVBM) voter list if he or she fails to
return a vote by mail (VBM) ballot for four consecutive
statewide general elections, instead of two consecutive
statewide general elections.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows any voter to become a PVBM voter.
2)Requires a voter's name to be deleted from the PVBM voter list
if he or she fails to return an executed VBM ballot for two
consecutive statewide general elections.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Since 2002, California law has allowed any voter to become
a PVBM voter, and to receive automatically a VBM ballot for
every election without applying for a VBM ballot at each
election. Since that time, the number of PVBM voters in
the state has shot up from fewer than 300,000 in 2000, to
nearly 6.5 million by last November's general election.
Three out of every eight registered California voters are
now signed-up as PVBM voters.
As the number of PVBM voters has increased, the percentage
of votes cast by mail has increased correspondingly. At
last year's general election, nearly 60 percent of ballots
were cast by mail, compared to less than a quarter of
ballots just 10 years ago.
As more voters have signed up to be PVBM voters, however, a
AB 1343
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larger number of occasional voters who prefer the
convenience of voting by mail have signed up to be PVBM
voters as well. As a result, the percentage of VBM ballots
mailed to voters that are returned and counted has
declined. At last year's primary election, only 51 percent
of VBM ballots that were mailed to voters were returned.
A voter who chose to become a PVBM voter because he or she
prefers the convenience of voting by mail has a reasonable
expectation of receiving a ballot in the mail for every
election in which that voter is eligible to vote. However,
existing law requires a voter to be removed from the list
of PVBM voters if he or she fails to return a completed
PVBM ballot in two consecutive statewide general elections.
As a result, a voter who missed two consecutive elections
could be prevented from voting if that voter didn't realize
that his or her name was deleted from the PVBM voter list.
AB 1343 allows occasional voters to maintain their desired
status as PVBM voters by providing that a voter's name will
be deleted from the list of PVBM voters only if that voter
fails to vote in four consecutive statewide elections.
2)Permanent Vote by Mail Voting : AB 1520 (Shelley) Chapter 922,
Statutes of 2001, allowed any voter to become a PVBM voter.
Since that time, according to information from the Secretary
of State, the number of PVBM voters has increased more than
twenty-fold, from 281,207 in November 2000, to 6,485,143 in
November 2010.
3)Arguments in Support : According to the sponsor of this bill,
the California State Association of Letter Carriers, "�w]e
believe that every opportunity should be extended to allow
qualified permanent vote by mail voters to continue to remain
on the permanent vote by mail list. Since its introduction,
permanent vote by mail in California has resulted in increased
participation among voters, been easier for election officials
to conduct, and has given voters a much longer opportunity to
study the ballot and find answers to their questions prior to
casting their votes."
4)Previous Legislation : SB 39 (Murray), Chapter 113, Statutes
of 2005, required a voter's name to be deleted from the PVBM
voter list if he or she failed to return a VBM ballot for two
consecutive statewide general elections, instead of for
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failing to return a VBM ballot in any single statewide general
election.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California State Association of Letter Carriers (sponsor)
California Labor Federation
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094