BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 205
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Date of Hearing: July 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
SB 205 (Correa) - As Introduced: February 8, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 24-15
SUBJECT : Voter registration: paid registration activities.
SUMMARY : Prohibits a person from paying another person or
receiving payment for registering voters if that payment is on a
per-affidavit basis. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to offer to pay or to pay
money or other valuable consideration to another person,
either directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis to
assist another person to register to vote by receiving the
completed affidavit of registration.
2)Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to receive money or other
valuable consideration, either directly or indirectly, on a
per-affidavit basis to assist another person to register to
vote by receiving the completed affidavit of registration.
3)Provides that nothing in this bill shall be construed to
prohibit payment for assisting another person to register to
vote by receiving the completed affidavit that is not, either
directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis.
4)Makes corresponding and technical changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires any person who accepts money or other valuable
consideration in return for assisting with voter registration
to sign and affix on the voter registration form his or her
full name, telephone number, address, and the name and phone
number of the person, company, or organization, if any, that
agrees to pay money or valuable consideration for the
completed affidavit of registration.
2)Requires any person, company, or other organization that
agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a
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person for assisting with voter registration to maintain
specific records.
3)Establishes penalties for fraudulent activity related to
signature gathering and voter registration.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
State-mandated local program; contains a crimes and infractions
disclaimer.
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COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Individuals who are paid to register voters or to collect
petition signatures are commonly known as "bounty hunters."
Between 1994 and 2010 the Secretary of State's Election
Fraud Investigation Unit opened 960 cases for fraudulent
voter registration or for the illegal altering of party
affiliation on voter registration cards. Out of these, 99
were referred to district attorneys for prosecution,
resulting in 64 convictions.
As recently as 2010, Orange County and other county
elections officials have received hundreds of complaints
from voters who were re-registered with a political party
without their permission. According to press reports, the
companies in charge of these registration drives have paid
workers as much as $8-$10 for every completed voter
registration card.
SB 205 would prohibit paying voter registration "bounty
hunters" on a per affidavit basis. A violation would
constitute a misdemeanor?.
�T]his bill does not prohibit payment for assisting people
to register. It only prohibits payment on a per-affidavit
basis. Individuals could still be paid hourly, daily, or
in any other fashion.
At least five other states, including Colorado, Missouri,
Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin have similar laws
on the books.
Every election cycle yields another crop of individuals who
abuse our voter registration laws -- party affiliations get
changed, names are forged, and people are duped into
registering even if they are ineligible.
This bill will help eliminate the incentive to commit this
type of fraud by prohibiting payment to bounty hunters on a
per-affidavit basis.
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2)Voter Registration Fraud : While some voter registration
drives pay employees on an hourly or salaried basis, other
voter registration drives pay workers a specified amount of
money for each completed voter registration card. In some
cases, voter registration drives that pay workers on a
per-registration basis only pay workers for voters who
register with a specific political party, or pay the workers a
larger amount of money for voters who register with a specific
political party. While these per-registration payments may
create incentives to register voters with a particular
political party, they also may create financial incentives for
the individuals who are registering voters to commit fraud.
In each of the last three election cycles, complaints have been
filed by voters who said they were misled into changing their
party affiliations. According to media reports of these
complaints, the voter registration workers who were accused of
misleading these voters were paid as much as $15 for each new
voter that the worker registered with a particular political
party.
In 2006, complaints were reported in Orange, Riverside, and San
Bernardino Counties. According to the Orange County Register,
11 individuals were eventually convicted of falsifying voter
registrations and other charges in connection with the
complaints in Orange County, and eight of those 11 served jail
time. In 2008, press reports focused on similar complaints in
Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties,
while in 2010, complaints were filed in Orange and Sacramento
Counties. In every instance, media reports of the complaints
indicated that the firms that were conducting the voter
registration drives or the individuals who were registering
voters as part of those drives were being paid on a
per-registration basis.
In all, according to the Secretary of State's Election Fraud
Investigation Unit (EFIU), between 1994 and 2010, the EFIU
opened 960 cases for fraudulent voter registration or
fraudulently altering party affiliation on voter registration
cards. Out of these, 99 were referred to district attorneys
for prosecution, resulting in 64 convictions. Since the EFIU
was created in 1994, it has opened more cases, and a larger
number of convictions have been obtained, for voter
registration fraud than for any other election crime.
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3)Other States : At least 11 states (Colorado, Florida, Georgia,
Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Dakota,
Washington, and Wisconsin) have laws prohibiting payments for
registering voters if those payments are based on the number
of registrations obtained. Ohio similarly had a law that
prohibited payments for registering voters if those payments
were based on anything other than time worked. Ohio's law
also prohibited payments for collecting signatures on election
petitions if the payments were based on anything other than
time worked. The Ohio law was struck down by the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals in Citizens for Tax Reform et al. v.
Deters et al. (2008), 518 F.3d 375. However, while the Court
struck down the entire Ohio law, including the provisions
regarding payments for registering voters, the Court's
decision focused on the portion of the law governing payments
for collecting signatures on petitions, and did not include
substantive discussion about the restrictions on payments for
voter registration.
4)Labor Law Implications : This bill prohibits the payment of
individuals on a per-piece basis for voter registration.
Typically, in California, individuals who are paid to register
voters on a per-piece basis are independent contractors.
However, to the extent that this bill forces individuals who
are paid to register voters to be paid an hourly wage, this
bill could also result in these individuals being considered
employees under California law. As such, the individual,
corporation, or group paying individuals to register voters
may be required to pay minimum wage, provide workers
compensation insurance and unemployment insurance for its
employees, and maintain a payroll system.
5)Increased Costs : As noted in comment #4, individuals or
groups paying people to register voters may be required to
provide certain benefits such as unemployment insurance and
workers compensation insurance. This may result in higher
costs to those groups that pay individuals to register voters.
In addition, prohibiting payment of individuals on a
per-registration basis could increase costs because it may
become more difficult to measure the work product of employees
who are being paid to register voters. Potential increased
costs may be partially offset if, by reducing the incentive to
submit fraudulent registrations, this legislation results in
individuals submitting fewer invalid registrations.
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6)Related Legislation : SB 168 (Corbett), which is pending in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee, would prohibit a person
from paying another person or from being paid based on the
number of signatures obtained on an initiative, referendum, or
recall petition. SB 168 was approved by this committee on a
5-2 vote.
7)Previous Legislation : SB 812 (Correa) of 2007, was similar to
this bill. SB 812 was approved by this committee, but
subsequently was amended and used for an unrelated purpose.
AB 2946 (Leno) of 2006, would have prohibited the payment of an
individual to register voters if that payment was on a
per-registration basis, among other provisions. AB 2946 was
vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, though his veto message
focused on other parts of that bill, and did not address the
provisions of the bill that would have prohibited
per-registration payments for registering voters.
AB 2101 (Fong), Chapter 372, Statutes of 2010, permits a court
to prevent someone who is convicted of voter registration
fraud from being paid to register voters, among other
provisions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Opposition
California Libertarian Party
Coalition for Free and Open Elections
Green Party of California
Peace and Freedom Party of California
One individual
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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