BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 183 HEARING DATE:
3/15/11
AUTHOR: CORREA ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Ballots: identifying information
DESCRIPTION
Existing law prohibits a voter from placing any mark upon a
ballot that will make the ballot identifiable.
Furthermore, a ballot that is not marked as provided by law
or that is marked or signed by the voter so that the ballot
can be identified by others must be rejected.
Existing law provides that any ballot that is torn, bent,
or otherwise defective must be corrected so that every vote
cast by the voter can be counted by the automatic
tabulating equipment. If necessary, a true duplicate copy
of the defective ballot must be made and substituted
therefore, following the intention of the voter insofar as
it can be ascertained from the defective ballot.
This bill would instead prohibit a voter from placing
personal information, as defined, upon a ballot that
identifies the voter. This bill would provide that instead
of rejecting a ballot that contains personal information it
must be segregated in a specified manner and would require
that a duplicate ballot be prepared in the same manner as
other defective ballots. "Personal information" includes
all of the following:
The signature of the voter.
The initials, name, or address of the voter.
A voter identification number.
A social security number.
A driver's license number.
This bill would also require that ballots include in their
instructions to voters that marking the ballot outside of
the designated space to vote for a candidate or measure may
compromise the secrecy of the ballot.
BACKGROUND
Marked Ballots : Prior to the advent of
voting systems that use an automated tabulation component,
paper ballots were routinely counted by hand. If the
elections official who was hand-counting those ballots was
compliant, vote-buying could occur if a voter made an
identifying mark on his or her ballot. In order to address
this possibility, the law provided that any distinguishing
marks or erasures would render a ballot void. However,
according to the Secretary of State, cases of "vote
selling" and individuals marking a ballot to indicate
they've voted a particular way is extremely rare to
nonexistent while many ballots are currently rejected for
extraneous, often inadvertent marks made by a voter. With
the increased use of optically scanned paper ballots that
require the voter to mark the ballot with an ordinary ink
pen, it is common for voters to scribble on the ballot to
ensure that the ink in the pen is flowing or they simply
and innocently doodle on the ballot while deciding how to
vote.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author , voters should not be
disenfranchised for making harmless, extraneous marks on
a paper ballot. Concerns over vote buying in this
fashion are no longer legitimate. Ballots that contain
personal information should also be remade and not be
rejected.
2.Previous Legislation . SB 387 (Hancock) of 2009, which
was vetoed by the Governor, was identical to this bill.
In his veto message, the Governor stated, in part:
SB 183 (CORREA) Page
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"The provisions of this bill allowing elections officials
to process ballots that contain extraneous
non-identifying marks are acceptable; however, I am
concerned that remaking a ballot that contains personal
identifying information compromises ballot secrecy and
increases the opportunity for fraud."
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Common Cause
Secretary of State
Oppose: None received
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