BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 348 (Correa)
Hearing Date: 5/26/2011 Amended: As Introduced
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz Policy Vote: E&CA 3-2
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 348 provides that all vote-by-mail ballots,
including special absentee voter ballots, will be counted if
they are postmarked on or before elections day and received by
the voter's elections official no later than six days after
election day.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Admin costs ----approximately $64 -
$128 per election---- General*
*Reimbursable Local Mandate
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Under existing law, all ballots must 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.
This bill will require ballots to be counted if they are
postmarked by elections day and received within six days after
the election. During the November 2010 Statewide Election,
there were approximately 1.7 million vote-by-mail ballots that
were unprocessed the day after the election. The cost estimate
shown above is based on a range of 25% - 50% of those ballots
being mailed and received after election day necessitating the
postmark verification. These costs constitute a reimbursable
mandate from the state's General Fund.
In the 2010 General Election, Los Angeles County received 1,976
ballots too late to be counted and Orange County received 2,423
ballots after the polls were closed. However, it is likely that
substantially more voters will mail their ballots closer to the
SB 348 (Correa)
Page 1
day of the election (rather than a couple of weeks early, for
example) once the provisions of SB 348 are enacted. Counties
indicate concerns about having to manually verify the postmark
on all ballots that are received after the close of polls, but
up to six days after the election, and also there is concern
about slowing the canvass process due to the excessive number of
late ballots.
Eleven states currently allow Vote-By-Mail (VBM) ballots to be
counted as long as they are postmarked by elections day, and
twenty states provide additional time for special absentee
ballots (overseas military voters) to be returned.
"Special absentee voter" is a voter who meets any of the
following:
- A member of the Armed Forces of the United States or any
auxiliary branch.
- A citizen of the U. S. temporarily living outside of the
territorial limits of the U. S. or the District of Columbia.
- Service on a merchant vessel documents under the laws of the
United States.
- A spouse or dependent of a member of the Armed Forces or any
auxiliary branch thereof.
Current law allows special absentee voters to register to vote,
apply for, receive and return their ballots by facsimile
transmission. Additionally, special absentee ballots can be
requested as early as 60 days prior to an election, while VBM
ballots are not provided until 29 days prior to an election.
SB 802 (Runner), pending in the Senate Elections and
Constitutional Amendment Committee, will allow special absentee
ballots to be counted if they are received 21 days after an
election, while AB 896 (Portantino), recently granted
reconsideration in the Assembly Elections and Redistricting
Committee, is similar to this bill. Last year, several similar
bills failed passage in the legislative process including AB
1340 (Lowenthal), SB 583 (Dutton), SB 370 (Runner), AB 1367
(Fletcher), and AB 1415 (Adams).
SB 348 (Correa)
Page 2
Counties have 28 days after an election to canvass the vote and
then certify the election results. By allowing ballots to
arrive and be counted 6 days after an election, many larger
counties may have difficulties in meeting the 28 day deadline.