BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 109 HEARING DATE: 5/3/11
AUTHOR: GAINES ANALYSIS BY: FrancesTibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 3/14/11
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Elections: special: vote by mail
DESCRIPTION
Existing law authorizes a specified local, special, or
consolidated election to be conducted as an all-mail ballot
election so long as the governing body of the local agency
authorizes the use of mailed ballots for the election, the
election occurs on an established mailed ballot election
date, and if the election is one of the following:
An election in which no more than 1,000 registered
voters are eligible to participate;
An election in a city, county, or district with 5,000 or
fewer registered voters that is restricted to the
imposition of special taxes, expenditure limitation
overrides, or both;
An election on the issuance of a general obligation
water bond;
An election in one of four specifically enumerated water
districts; or,
An election or assessment ballot proceeding required or
authorized by the state constitution under Proposition
218.
Existing law authorizes a school district or city with a
population of 100,000 or less to conduct an all-mail ballot
election to fill a vacancy in a special election and
authorizes any district to conduct any election as an
all-mail ballot election on any date other than an
established election date.
Existing law provides that whenever there are 250 or fewer
people registered to vote in any precinct, the elections
official may deem the precinct as an all-mail ballot
precinct. However, no precinct may be divided solely in
order to create an all-mail precinct.
Existing law provides that for each all-mail ballot
election and in each all-mail ballot precinct, the
elections official must furnish each voter with a vote by
mail ballot (VBM).
This bill would authorize a county with a population of
400,000 or less to conduct a special election called by the
Governor to be conducted wholly as an all-mail ballot
election subject to the following conditions:
The legislative body of the small county, by
resolution, authorizes the use of mailed ballots for the
special election.
The special election is not held on the same day as a
statewide primary or general election.
The special election is not consolidated with any other
election.
BACKGROUND
Vote By Mail and Permanent Vote By Mail Voting : Currently,
any voter can request a VBM ballot for any election, and
any voter can become a permanent VBM voter. Permanent VBM
voters automatically receive a ballot in the mail for every
election, without the need to re-apply for a VBM ballot.
As such, any voter who prefers to vote by mail has the
ability to do so under existing law.
A Little All-Mail History . Several California counties
have conducted all-mail ballot elections. Monterey
conducted one of the first vote-by-mail elections ever held
in the United States in 1977 on a flood control measure.
Alpine County conducted its first all-mail election in
November, 1993 for a countywide special election. San
Diego used all-mail balloting in May 1981 for a measure
proposing to build a $224 million convention center.
Stanislaus County conducted its first all-mail ballot
election in 1987 for the Modesto City Charter.
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In 1992, the Legislature approved a pilot project in
Stanislaus and Placer counties. The counties were allowed
to conduct all-mail ballot elections. Placer County did
not utilize this pilot project but Stanislaus County
conducted the 1993 Statewide Special Election as an
all-mail ballot election.
All-mail ballot elections conducted in California as well
as other states have generally shown increases in voter
turnout and significant decreases in the cost of conducting
elections. During Stanislaus County's all-mail ballot
pilot project, the County saved almost half of its usual
election expenditures. Stanislaus County generally
reported turnout levels at six to eight percentage points
below the state's average. During the 1993 Statewide
Special Election, the County's turnout was 6.8 percent
higher than the statewide average during that election.
It should be noted however, that with few exceptions, prior
all-mail elections have been limited to local elections
only.
Oregon has been conducting all-mail ballot elections for
non-partisan and ballot measure elections for 20 years. In
1998 the voters passed an initiative expanding vote-by-mail
to primary and general elections.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , California's 58 counties
conduct all local, state and federal elections for the
state. These regularly scheduled elections are a
cost, albeit a predictable one, for each county.
There are, however, special elections that present
counties with unanticipated costs that lead to fiscal
challenges. In the absence of state reimbursement for
these state-mandated special elections and in light of
the parlous fiscal condition of counties, it is
incumbent on the state to provide the least expensive
options to counties while not sacrificing the
integrity of the elections process.
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In addition, some rural counties also experience
inclement weather during the unusual dates of some
special elections, making it more difficult for rural
voters to exercise their right to vote at a polling
place.
2. What about a safeguard ? If a county chooses to run
an all-mail ballot special election as allowed by this
bill, under provisions previously stated, there is no
option provided for those voters who for a variety of
reasons may not have received, or may have misplaced
their absentee ballot.
Then there are the voters who may require assistance
from an elections poll worker due to a language
barrier, a disability, or if they are a newly
naturalized citizen, or a youth voting for the first
time, or even an existing voter with a spoiled or
missing ballot.
It should be noted that there are currently 37 counties
that would meet the 400,000 population threshold, with
3 of those counties covered by the language assistance
provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
3. Convenience ? Among the arguments that supporters
of all-mail ballot elections frequently make in
support of such elections is that all-mail ballot
elections are more convenient for voters. However, it
is not clear whether this is the case. Any voter who
finds it more convenient to vote by mail has the
option to do so under existing law, and voters who
want to vote by mail at every election can sign up for
permanent VBM status. This may be especially true for
disabled voters and voters who rely on poll workers
for language assistance.
4. All or None ? Is it equitable to permit some
counties in a multicounty legislative or congressional
district to conduct a special vacancy election when
the other affected counties must conduct the same
election in the traditional manner? Besides the issue
of equal treatment, this situation could serve to
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influence the outcome of the election. For instance,
if most of the voters of one particular political
persuasion reside in a large county within a given
district and the majority of voters of the opposite
political persuasion reside in that district's small
counties, this bill could unfairly advantage the
candidate(s) favored by the small counties.
5. Prior and related legislation . AB 413 (Yamada)
creates a pilot program allowing Yolo County to
conduct no more than three local elections as all-mail
ballot elections. AB 413 was recently referred to
this Committee.
SB 1102 (Liu) of 2010 would have permitted a special
primary or run-off election to fill a legislative or
congressional vacancy to be conducted wholly by mail
provided that the board of supervisors of each county
within the affected jurisdiction authorized the
all-mail ballot election. SB 1102 was never brought
up for vote on the Senate Floor.
AB 1681 (Yamada) of 2010 was similar to AB 413. AB 1681
was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who expressed
concern that "with limited options to vote in-person
citizens - especially poor, elderly, and disabled
voters - would not have sufficient opportunity to
vote."
AB 1228 (Yamada) of 2009 was similar to AB 1681, except
that AB 1228 would have allowed both Yolo and Santa
Clara Counties to participate in the all-mail ballot
pilot project. AB 1228 was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger for the same reasons stated in his veto
message of AB 1681 above.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
El Dorado County Board of Supervisors
Regional Council of Rural Counties
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Oppose: Asian American for Civil Rights and Equality
California Immigrant Policy Center
Disability Rights California
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