BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1929 HEARING DATE: 7/03/12
AUTHOR: GORELL ANALYSIS BY: DARREN CHESIN
AMENDED: 6/28/12
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Special absentee voters: ballot marking systems
DESCRIPTION
Existing law defines a "special absentee voter" as an
elector who is any of the following:
A member of the Armed Forces of the U.S. or any auxiliary
branch thereof;
A citizen of the U.S. temporarily living outside of the
territorial limits of the U.S. or the District of
Columbia;
Serving on a merchant vessel documented under the laws of
the U.S.; or,
A spouse or dependent of a member of the Armed Forces or
any auxiliary branch thereof.
Existing law requires the county elections official to mail
a ballot to all special absentee voters and overseas voters
who are permanent vote by mail (VBM) voters as soon as
possible on or after the 60th day prior to an election.
Existing law requires all VBM ballots to be received by the
elections official from whom they were obtained or by the
precinct board no later than the close of polls on election
day in order to be counted.
Existing law permits a special absentee voter to register
to vote and apply for a VBM ballot by facsimile
transmission and permits an elections official to send a
VBM ballot by mail, facsimile, or electronic transmission.
Existing law permits a special absentee voter who is
temporarily living outside of the United States to return
his or her ballot by facsimile transmission. A ballot
returned by facsimile transmission must be accompanied by
an identification envelope and an oath of voter declaration
in which the voter acknowledges that the electronic
transmission of a completed ballot may compromise the
secrecy of the ballot.
Existing law defines a "voting system" as any mechanical,
electromechanical, or electronic system and its software,
or any combination of these used to cast or tabulate votes,
or both.
Existing law prohibits a voting system or part of a voting
system from being connected to the Internet at any time, or
from electronically receiving or transmitting election data
through an exterior communication network, including a
public telephone system, when the communication originates
from or terminates at a polling place, satellite location,
or counting center; or from receiving or transmitting
wireless communications or wireless data transfers.
Existing law prohibits a voting system, in whole or in
part, from being used unless it has received the approval
of the Secretary of State (SOS) prior to any election at
which it is to be first used.
Existing law prohibits a jurisdiction from purchasing or
contracting for a voting system, in whole or in part,
unless it has received the approval of the SOS.
Existing law permits a person or corporation owning or
being interested in a voting system or a part of a voting
system to apply to the SOS to examine it and report on its
accuracy and efficiency to fulfill its purpose.
This bill establishes processes and procedures for the
review and approval of "ballot marking systems," as
defined, for use in California elections.
This bill provides that a ballot marking system or part of
a ballot marking system shall not do any of the following:
Have the capability, including an optional capability, to
use a remote server to mark a voter's selections
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transmitted to the server from the voter's computer via
the Internet.
Have the capability, including an optional capability, to
store any voter identifiable selections on any remote
server.
Have the capability, including the optional capability,
to tabulate votes.
This bill also provides for all of the following:
1. Defines a ballot marking system as any mechanical,
electromechanical, or electronic system and its
software that is used for the sole purpose of marking a
ballot for a special absentee voter and is not
connected at any time to a voting system.
2. Requires the SOS to study and adopt regulations
governing the use of ballot marking systems.
3. Establishes procedures for the review and approval of
ballot marking systems and prohibits the SOS from
approving any ballot marking system, or part of a
ballot marking system, unless it fulfills the
requirements of this bill and the regulations
established by the SOS.
4. Permits a person or corporation owning or being
interested in a ballot marking system to apply to the
SOS to examine and report on its accuracy and
efficiency to fulfill its purpose. A vendor of such a
system would be required, upon and after submission of
an application, to notify the SOS in writing of any
known defect, fault, or failure of the hardware,
software, or firmware of the ballot marking system or
part of the system. Requires the SOS to submit a
report to the United States Elections Assistance
Commission (EAC) or its successor as soon as
practicable.
5. Provides that for the purpose of assistance in
examining a ballot marking system, the SOS may employ
not more than three expert electronic technicians at a
cost to be set by the SOS. Requires the compensation
of the electronic technicians to be paid by the person
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or corporation submitting the ballot marking system.
Permits the SOS to require a person or corporation
submitting the ballot marking system to deposit
sufficient funds to guarantee the payment of the
examination charges.
6. Requires a vendor, upon approval of the ballot
marking system, to notify the SOS and all local
elections officials who use the system in writing of
any defect, fault, or failure of the hardware,
software, or firmware of the system or part of the
system within 30 calendar days after the vendor learns
of the defect, fault, or failure. Requires the SOS to
notify the EAC or its successor of the problem as soon
as practicable.
7. Prohibits a ballot marking system approved by the SOS
from being changed or modified until the SOS has been
notified in writing and determined that the change or
modification does not impair its accuracy and
efficiency sufficient to require reexamination and
re-approval.
8. Permits the SOS to seek relief, as specified, for an
unauthorized change in hardware, software, or firmware
or a known and undisclosed defect, fault, or failure,
in a ballot marking system approved or conditionally
approved in California.
This bill contains an urgency clause, allowing this bill to
take effect immediately upon enactment.
BACKGROUND
Facilitating Overseas Voting . Over the last nine years,
the Legislature has made a number of changes to state law
to facilitate voting for military voters and other
California residents who are outside of the United States.
AB 188 (Maze), Chapter 347, Statutes of 2003, streamlined a
number of provisions of state law to make it easier for
overseas voters to receive their ballots and cast a vote.
Among other provisions, AB 188 allowed any VBM ballot
request received from an overseas voter to be considered a
request for voter registration; made all overseas voters
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permanent VBM voters; required that all overseas voters be
mailed a VBM ballot 60 days before the election to ensure
that the voter has sufficient time to receive, complete,
and return his or her ballot; and allowed the elections
official to send an overseas voter his or her ballot by
electronic transmission.
AB 2941 (Bates), Chapter 821, Statutes of 2004, permitted
special absentee voters who are temporarily living outside
the United States to return their ballots by facsimile
transmission. AB 2941 was intended to accommodate voters
who, due to potential delays in international mail delivery
and structural barriers present in combat areas, may not be
able to receive, vote, and return a ballot in the 60-day
period provided for overseas voters.
AB 2786 (Salas), Chapter 252, Statutes of 2008, extended
the sunset date on the provisions of AB 2941 and AB 2369
(Block), Chapter 261, Statutes of 2010, removed the sunset
date on the provisions of AB 2941 and made the program
permanent.
Furthermore, at the federal level, in 2009, President Obama
signed into law the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment
(MOVE) to expand the 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens
Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which was established to
protect the rights of service members to vote in federal
elections regardless of where they are stationed. The MOVE
Act builds on UOCAVA to provide greater protections for
service members, their families, and other overseas
citizens.
The provisions of the MOVE Act have been in effect since
the November 2010 Election. However, as mentioned above,
California law already includes provisions to facilitate
voting by military members and other California residents
who are outside of the US, as such the SOS's office and
local elections officials only had to make minimal
adjustments to their practices in order to be in
compliance. For example, the MOVE Act requires states to
establish procedures to allow overseas voters to request
voter registration applications and absentee ballot
applications by mail or electronically, and requires at
least one means of electronic communication for voters to
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request, and for all states to send, voter registration
applications, absentee ballot applications, and voting
information. As mentioned above, current law allows a
special absentee voter to register to vote and apply for a
VBM ballot by facsimile transmission and allows elections
officials to send a VBM ballot by mail, facsimile, or
electronic transmission. Moreover, exceeding the
requirements of the MOVE Act, current law also allows a
special absentee voter who is temporarily living outside of
the US to return his or her ballot by facsimile
transmission.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author , even in the 21st century, we are
still disenfranchising thousands of men and women who are
overseas. Recently, local election offices missed the
deadline to mail out ballots to overseas military, which
disenfranchised thousands of military voters who are
protecting the constitutional right of US citizens to
participate in our democratic process. According to the
Federal Voting Assistance Program, almost half (49.1%) of
all voting failure incidences are due to ballots never
being received by the military or ballot returns arriving
too late.
AB 1929 is one tool that helps overseas voters in
California's voting process. Specifically, AB 1929
allows the Secretary of State to review and approve
on-screen ballot marking programs that can be used by
local election offices. A ballot marking program will
help guide overseas voters to accurately and quickly mark
their ballots on their computers before printing it and
mailing/faxing it back to election offices. If
successful, this can be a potential model that can be
used by other constituencies, such as the disability
community. With the current problems with overseas
ballots not being received by election offices in time to
be counted, it is important to utilize current
technologies that help more ballots to be successfully
counted in all of our elections.
Currently, 17 states already use ballot marking programs
and 14 states are currently implementing the program. In
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the states that are already using the technology, there
have been zero reported problems. Federal funds have
been provided to California to improve current voting
systems to help the overseas military men and women vote
in our elections.
2.Related Legislation : AB 1805 (Huffman) which is also
before this committee today, establishes new voting
procedures for military and overseas voters, as defined,
to comply with the UOCAVA and implement the policies of
that act and the Uniform Military & Overseas Voter Act
adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on
Uniform State laws. Among other provisions, AB 1805
expands the universe of people who can be considered
military or overseas voters; expands the use of the
Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot by allowing it to be
used by military or overseas voters in non-federal
elections; and makes other conforming changes, where
appropriate in California, to ensure continuity and
uniformity across state lines for military and overseas
voters.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 6-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 17-0
Assembly Floor: 74-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Democracy Live
Support: Disabled American Veterans, Department of
California
Oppose: Disability Rights of California
Individual letters of opposition
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