BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 183
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 17, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                 SB 183 (Correa) - As Introduced:  February 7, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:5-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires a ballot containing extraneous marks or 
          personal information to nevertheless be counted instead of being 
          void.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Deletes the instruction to voters that distinguishing marks 
            make a ballot void and instead instructs voters that marking a 
            ballot outside the designated spaces may compromise the 
            secrecy of the ballot.

          2)Stipulates that no voter shall place personal information, as 
            specified, on a ballot, and stipulates that including such 
            personal information shall not render a ballot void as is 
            currently the case.

          3)Requires that, for ballots containing personal information, a 
            duplicate ballot shall be prepared-similar to existing 
            procedures for ballots that are torn, bent or mutilated-and 
            tabulated.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor state reimbursable costs for county elections officials to 
          modify voter instructions, and to duplicate and tabulate, rather 
          than void, ballots inappropriately marked with personal 
          information.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  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 








                                                                  SB 183
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            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.  

            In support, the Secretary of State argues that this measure 
            will prevent ballots from being disqualified simply because a 
            voter placed a random mark on their ballot that did not affect 
            the integrity of their vote. The secretary maintains that any 
            implementation costs should be minor due to the small number 
            of ballots that the bill will impact.

           2)Prior Legislation  . In 2009, an identical bill, SB 387 
            (Hancock), was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who 
            expressed concern that "remaking a ballot that contains 
            personal identifying information compromises ballot secrecy 
            and increases the opportunity for fraud."

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081