BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 641 HEARING DATE: 5/3/11
AUTHOR: CALDERON ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 4/26/11
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Conditional voter registration: provisional voting
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that an eligible elector may not vote
in an election unless his or her affidavit of registration
is executed and received by the county elections official
on or before the 15th day prior to the election. However,
existing law also permits an individual who becomes a new
United States citizen between 7 and 14 days before Election
Day to register to vote up to 7 days prior to the election
and to vote in that election.
Existing law specifies that in order to be eligible to
vote, an individual must be a United States citizen, a
resident of California, not in prison or on parole for the
conviction of a felony, not deemed mentally incompetent,
and at least 18 years of age at the time of the next
election.
Existing law requires a voter to mail or deliver the
affidavit to the county elections official, or submit it to
the DMV or any other public agency designated as a voter
registration agency.
This bill establishes conditional voter registration, using
an affidavit of registration, whereby a person would be
permitted to register to vote after the 15th day prior to
an election or on Election Day, and cast a provisional
ballot to be counted if the conditional voter registration
is deemed effective.
This bill provides that a conditional voter registration
shall be deemed effective only if the county elections
official is able to determine before or during the canvass
period for the election that the registrant is eligible to
register to vote and that the registrant has a valid
California driver's license or state identification number.
This bill requires the elections official, if a conditional
voter registration is not deemed effective pursuant to
these new provisions, to process the affidavit of
registration as specified and, if the registrant meets all
other eligibility requirements to vote, the registration
would be deemed effective in forthcoming elections.
This bill requires the county elections official to offer
conditional voter registration and provisional voting at
its permanent offices, and permits the official to offer
this registration and voting at satellite offices on
Election Day, in accordance with specified procedures.
This bill requires the county elections official to cancel,
as specified, duplicate voter registrations that may arise
due to conditional voter registration.
This bill increases the fine to $25,000 for conviction of a
crime pertaining to an election for which no fine is
prescribed, that a court may impose, in addition to any
prescribed imprisonment.
This bill makes various other minor and technical changes.
BACKGROUND
Other States . The following states have some form of
Election Day voter registration: Connecticut (for
presidential elections only), Idaho, Iowa, Maine,
Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina,
Wisconsin and Wyoming. North Dakota has no voter
registration requirement at all.
According to a study conducted by Dr. Michael McDonald,
Associate Professor at George Mason University, for the
United States Elections Project, nationwide turnout in the
2008 General Election among the voting-eligible population
(VEP) was 61.7% which was identical to turnout among the
VEP in California for that election. Among the states that
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have some form of Election Day voter registration, turnout
among the VEP for that election ranged from a low of 63.4%
in Iowa to a high of 78.1% in Minnesota with an overall
average of 68.7%.
2002 Initiative Measure . Proposition 52, which appeared on
the 2002 General Election ballot, would have allowed
eligible citizens, upon presenting proof of current
residence, to register up to and including Election Day.
That measure failed by a margin of 40.9% to 59.1%
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , it is a fundamental principle
of the United States that the people should have access
to our systems of democracy. However, the voter
registration process is often a barrier to
participation. California is ranked 41st out of 50
states in voter turnout. In 2006, only 76 percent of
the voting-age population was registered. Research has
shown that election-day registration can considerably
boost voter turnout.
SB 641 deletes the arbitrary timelines which prevent
eligible citizens from voting in elections. The bill
will allow eligible citizens to register and vote up to
and including on Election Day.
2. Prior or related legislation . SB 1140 (Yee) and AB
1531 (Portantino) both from 2010, were similar to this
bill - dealing with one-stop voting. Both bills were
retained on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations and
the Senate Appropriations Committee respectively.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Disability Rights California
University of California Student Association
Oppose: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
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