BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1346 HEARING DATE: 5/8/12
AUTHOR: NEGRETE-McCLEOD ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 5/2/12
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Election day procedures: ballot containers
DESCRIPTION
Existing law establishes procedures for processing ballots
following the closing of the polls on election day.
Existing law prohibits the removal of a ballot container
from a polling place or the presence of any persons
assembled at the polling place until all the ballots are
counted and prohibits the ballot container from being
opened until after the polls are closed.
This bill would allow the county elections official for a
county of greater than 5,000 square miles to direct two
members of a precinct board to remove from a polling place
prior to the closing of the polls a sealed ballot container
of voted untallied ballots and deliver without delay the
sealed ballot container, unopened to the county elections
official or to a receiving station designated by the county
elections official.
This bill would require, upon receipt of a sealed ballot
container, the county elections official, or his or her
designee to sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the
sealed ballot container.
This bill would require not less than 30 days prior to an
election, the county elections official identify each
precinct or polling place from which sealed ballot
containers will be removed prior to the closing of the
polls.
This bill would permit an elections official to direct that
ballot containers be removed from no more than 3 percent of
the precincts in the jurisdiction prior to the closing of
the polls.
This bill would permit sealed ballot containers to be
removed from a polling place and the presence of any
bystanders only once, and the removal occur between the
hours of 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
This bill would permit the county elections official, upon
receipt of a container at a receiving center or central
counting place, to process the voted untallied ballots, but
not tally the ballots or release any results prior to the
closing of the polls.
This bill will not be construed to relieve a precinct board
of its responsibility to account for ballots.
This bill restates a portion of the process for
reconciliation of ballots from another section of the
Elections Code.
This bill contains an urgency clause, and would sunset on
January 1, 2017.
BACKGROUND
There are several counties in California that span
thousands of miles. The counties of San Bernardino, Inyo,
Kern, Riverside, Siskiyou and Fresno are all over 5,000
square miles. Traditionally, after the polls close on
Election Day, ballots are returned to the Registrar of
Voters office for processing and counting.
Large counties such as San Bernardino may encounter late
reconciliation issues partly due to the size of the county
that requires elections staff to be on the road driving to
remote polling places to pick up ballot containers and then
delivering them to a central processing location.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : The County of San Bernardino
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spans over 20,000 square miles, presenting logistical
challenges on election night. Traditionally, after the
polls close on Election Day, ballots are returned to the
Registrar of Voters office in San Bernardino for
processing and counting. Ballots are two cards, front
and back, require hand processing to tear off stubs, and
bundle into batches before scanning through vote
counting machines.
Due to the size of the County, several polling locations
are located in remote areas and require several hours to
transport the ballots to a central processing location.
Ballots from remote locations may come in as late as
11:30 p.m. Processing requires hours of manual labor
and hundreds of staff. In 2010, Gubernatorial Election
ballot counting was not complete until 10:00 a.m. the
day following the election. The ballots are two cards,
front and back and require hand processing to tear off
stubs and bundle into batches before scanning through
vote counting machines. The late receipt of ballots
from the remote areas of the County delays election
results.
It is important to pass this bill as soon as possible to
expedite ballot processing, reduce administrative costs,
increase overall efficiency, and provide voters with
timely election results.
2. Secretary of State Concerns : Although the bill was
recently amended, and despite ongoing discussions with
the author's office, the SOS still has the following
concerns:
Ballot reconciliation . The mid-day counting and
reconciliation of the ballots envisioned by this bill
must be consistent with current Elections Code section
14405 to ensure proper counting of voted, un-used,
spoiled and canceled ballots before they leave the
precinct in the middle of the day. Absent proper
reconciliation, the ability to identify and correct
any error will be lost. Listing these specific
requirements in the bill rather than simply
cross-referencing Elections Code section 14405 will
help provide clarity of the appropriate procedures to
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follow.
Public notification . While the bill requires a
county elections official to identify the precincts
taking part in the pilot project, there is no
requirement that this identification be made public.
1. Is 3% Worth the Effort ? Given that the bill would
limit early removal of ballot boxes to 3% of the
counties' precincts, how would this significantly speed
up the processing of ballots on election night?
POSITIONS
Sponsor: San Bernardino County
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
Urban Counties Caucus
Oppose: None received
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