BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1724
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1724 (Fong) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : Voting: polling place procedures.
SUMMARY : Resolves a conflict in existing law that governs the
amount of time that a voter can spend in the voting booth, and
permits a voter to receive additional time to mark his or her
ballot when necessary. Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals a provision of law that prohibits voters from
remaining in or occupying voting booths or compartments longer
than five minutes, except under certain circumstances. This
provision conflicts with another portion of existing law that
prohibits voters from remaining in or occupying voting booths
or compartments longer than 10 minutes.
2)Permits any voter who needs more than 10 minutes to complete
his or her ballot to inform a precinct board member of that
fact and to receive additional time to complete the ballot.
Repeals a provision of law that provides that a voter may only
be permitted additional time to mark his or her ballot when no
other voter would be inconvenienced.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits voting booths or compartments from being occupied by
more than one person at a time, unless the voter is eligible
to receive assistance in casting his or her ballot.
2)Prohibits voters from remaining in or occupying the booths or
compartments for longer than either five or 10 minutes unless
a longer time period will not inconvenience other voters.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Existing law contains two conflicting provisions that
set a limit on the amount of time that a voter can
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remain in a voting booth or compartment.
Section 14224 of the Elections Code provides that a
voter may not remain in the voting booth longer than
necessary to mark his or her ballot, but the total
amount of time shall not exceed ten minutes. Section
19363 of the Elections Code, however, provides that a
voter may not remain in the voting booth longer than
necessary to mark his or her ballot, but the total
amount of time shall not exceed five minutes.
These conflicting standards can cause confusion for
voters and for poll workers. Furthermore, since
Section 19363 is in an area of the Elections Code that
governs the use of lever voting machines (machines
that are no longer used in this state), that section
is obsolete and should be repealed.
Finally, the two existing code sections that establish
a limit on how long a person can spend in the voting
booth both allow voters to have additional time in the
booth, but only if "no other voter would be
inconvenienced." While many voters are able to
complete their ballots in ten minutes, some voters
need additional time to make their selections,
especially at elections where there are a large number
of offices and measures on the ballot. Those voters
should be given the opportunity and time that they
need to complete their ballots.
AB 1724 resolves the conflict in existing law
regarding the amount of time that a voter can spend in
the voting booth by repealing Section 19363 of the
Elections Code. As a result, voters will have ten
minutes to mark their ballots.
Additionally, in order to protect the voting rights of
voters who require additional time to mark their
ballots, AB 1724 permits a voter to remain for longer
than ten minutes if the voter informs a precinct board
member that he or she requires additional time to mark
the ballot.
2)Previous Legislation : This bill is substantially similar to
AB 686 (Ruskin) of 2009, which was vetoed by Governor
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Schwarzenegger. In his veto message, the Governor argued that
there was "no evidence that the discrepancy in current law has
resulted in a significant problem for voters."
In addition, this bill is substantially similar to AB 3014
(Mullin) of 2008, which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger,
though the Governor did not express any policy objections to
that bill. AB 3014 was one of the 136 bills that received the
same veto message. That veto message is as follows:
The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State
Budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to
my desk at the end of the year's legislative session.
Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the
highest priority for California. This bill does not
meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094