BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1724
Author: Fong (D)
Amended: 5/10/12 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMENDMENTS COMM. : 4-0, 7/3/12
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, Gaines, Lieu
NO VOTE RECORDED: Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-3, 5/14/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Voting: polling place procedures
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill 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.
ANALYSIS :
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
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booths or compartments for longer than either five or 10
minutes unless a longer time period will not
inconvenience other voters.
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. Provides that if a precinct board
member determines that a voter is attempting to
interfere with the conduct of the election and does not
require additional time to mark his or her ballot, that
precinct board member may contact the elections
official, who may order that the voter not be provided
with additional time to mark his or her ballot.
Comments
According to the author, "Existing law contains two
conflicting provisions that set a limit on the amount of
time that a voter can 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
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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."
Prior Legislation
This bill is similar to AB 686 (Ruskin, 2009), which was
vetoed by Governor 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 similar to AB 3014 (Mullin,
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."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/5/12)
Secretary of State
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-3, 5/14/12
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AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly,
Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman,
Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lara, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning,
Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, V. Manuel
P�rez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NOES: Conway, Knight, Mansoor
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Cook, Fletcher, Perea, Valadao
DLW:m 7/5/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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