BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 641 (Calderon)
          
          Hearing Date: 5/16/2011         Amended: 4/26/2011
          Consultant: Maureen Ortiz       Policy Vote: E&CA 3-2
          
















































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          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:  SB 641 establishes conditional voter registration 
          whereby a person can register to vote, and cast a ballot, all 
          the way up to and including elections day. 
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Conditional regis/voting             ---------unknown, 
          potentially $500--------        General       

          *Reimbursable local mandate
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the 
          Suspense file.
          
          Actual costs to establish a conditional voting program are 
          unknown, however, if every county incurred expenses of only 
          $10,000, the total costs would be $580,000 which would be 
          reimbursed from the General Fund as a local mandate.  Counties 
          indicate that the increase in last minute voter registration 
          activity would necessitate additional labor, overtime, 
          computers, ballots, networks, and security.  In addition, 
          counties may incur substantial staffing and overtime costs in 
          order to complete the processing of the increase in the number 
          of provisional ballots during the 28 day canvass period after an 
          election.

          Current law requires a person to register to vote fifteen days 
          prior to an election, in order to cast a ballot at that 
          election.  An exception is provided to persons who become new 
          United States citizens between 7 and 14 days before elections 
          day, and allows them to register and vote up to 7 days prior to 
          elections day.

          SB 641 will allow a person to register to vote and cast a 
          provisional ballot to be counted if the conditional voter 
          registration is deemed effective by the county elections 
          official.   The conditional voter registration will be deemed 
          effective only if the county elections official is able to 
          determine before or during the canvass period that the 








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          registrant is eligible to register to vote and that the 
          registrant has a valid California driver's license or state 
          identification number.  

          SB 641 requires each county elections official to offer 
          conditional voter registration and provisional voting at all 
          permanent offices, and would permit the official to offer this 
          registration and voting at satellite offices on elections day.   
          Elections officials will be required to advise registrants that 
          a conditional voter registration will be effective only if the 
          registrant is determined to be eligible to register to vote and 
          the registrant's California driver's license or state 
          identification number can be validated before or during the 
          canvass period for the election.  Officials will be required to 
          conduct the receipt and handling of each conditional voter 
          registration in a manner that protects the secrecy of the 
          ballot.   Elections officials will also be required to cancel 
          duplicate voter registrations.

          SB 641 will increase the penalty for conviction of a crime 
          pertaining to an election from $10,000 to a fine of $25,000.

          In order to be eligible to vote, existing law provides that 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.

          This bill is intended to increase voter participation in 
          California.  Recent data shows that only 76 percent of the 
          voting age population is registered to vote, and that California 
          is ranked 41st out of 50 states in voter turnout.  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.

          SB 1140 (Yee), held on the Assembly Suspense File, and AB 1531 
          (Portantino), held on the Senate Suspense File, both of 2010, 
          would have established one-stop voting programs that would 
          enable eligible persons to register and vote up to and including 









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          on election day.