BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Alex Padilla, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1446 HEARING DATE: 6/17/14
AUTHOR: MULLIN ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 3/25/14
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Voter registration: personal information
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that a person who is qualified to register
to vote and who has a valid California driver's license or state
identification card may submit an affidavit of voter
registration electronically on the Secretary of State's (SOS)
Internet Web site.
Existing law requires the SOS, in consultation with county
elections officials, to design and make an affidavit of
registration available on the SOS's Internet Web site, as
specified.
Existing law permits a citizen or an organization to distribute
voter registration cards anywhere in the applicable county, as
specified.
Existing law establishes penalties for fraudulent activity
related to voter registration.
Existing law requires a person, company, or other organization
that agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a
person to assist another person to register to vote to comply
with certain conditions, as specified.
Existing law requires an affiant's driver's license number,
identification card number, social security number, and the
signature contained on an affidavit of registration or voter
registration card to be confidential and not be disclosed by an
individual or organization that distributes voter registration
cards.
Existing law requires every California Community College (CCC)
and California State University (CSU) campus that operates an
automated class registration system, as specified, to permit
students, during class registration, to elect to receive a voter
registration form that is preprinted with personal information
relevant to voter registration.
This bill requires an individual or organization that
distributes voter registration cards in accordance with existing
law, a person entrusted with an affidavit of registration from
an elector in accordance with existing law, or an individual or
organization that assists with the submission of an affidavit of
registration electronically on the SOS's Internet Web site, to
comply with both of the following:
a) Prohibits the use of affidavit of registration information
for any personal, private, or commercial purpose, including
for any of the following:
i) The harassment of a voter or member of the voter's
household;
ii) The advertising, solicitation, sale, or marketing of
products or services to a voter or member of the voter's
household; and,
iii) Reproduction in print, broadcast visual or audio, or
display on the Internet.
b) Requires an individual or organization described above to
employ reasonable security measures, including employing
administrative and physical safeguards, and, for affidavit of
registration information available in an electronic form,
technical safeguards, to protect the voter registration
information from unlawful disclosure and misuse.
This bill also:
Eliminates the requirement that every high school, CCC, and
CSU campus provide voter registration forms that are
consistent with the number of students enrolled at each
school who are of voting age or will be of voting age by the
end of the year.
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Deletes the requirement that every CCC and CSU campus that
operates an automated class registration system must permit
students, during class registration, to elect to receive a
voter registration form that is preprinted with personal
information relevant to voter registration, as specified, and
instead requires the school to permit students, during class
registration, to apply to register to vote online by
submitting an affidavit of voter registration electronically
on the SOS's Internet Web site.
Requires the SOS to report to the Legislature, as specified,
how many electronic affidavits of voter registration were
submitted by students via the process described above.
Deletes legislative intent language that every high school
and college student receive a voter registration card with
his or her diploma and instead provides that it is the intent
of the Legislature that every eligible high school and
college student receive a meaningful opportunity to apply to
register to vote. This bill further provides that a
meaningful opportunity to apply to register to vote may
include providing hyperlinks to, and the Internet Web site
of, the SOS's electronic voter registration system in notices
sent by electronic mail to students and placed on the
Internet Web site of the high school, college, or university.
Repeals provisions of law that allow a county elections
official to provide affidavits of registration and voter
registration cards on its Internet Web site, as specified and
instead prohibits an affidavit of registration from being
submitted electronically on a county's Internet Web site.
This bill also permits a county to provide a hyperlink on the
county's Internet Web site to the SOS's electronic voter
registration system.
Requires an individual or organization that distributes
voter registration cards, as designed in accordance with
current law, to obtain the voter registration cards from the
county elections official or the SOS. Requires the
individual or organization to comply with all applicable
regulations established by the SOS when distributing the
cards.
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Requires a person, company, or other organization that
agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a
person to assist another person to register to vote by
assisting with the submission of an affidavit of registration
electronically on the SOS's Internet Web site to comply with
certain conditions that currently apply to individuals who
receive compensation to assist others to register to vote
using a paper voter registration form.
Expands and updates existing crimes related to voter
registration to include assisting with the submission of an
affidavit of registration electronically on the SOS's
Internet Web site.
Makes other conforming and corresponding changes.
BACKGROUND
The Student Voter Registration Act of 2003, created by AB 593
(Ridley-Thomas), Ch. 819, Statutes of 2003, which, among other
things, requires the SOS to provide every high school, CCC, CSU,
and University of California (UC) campus with voter registration
forms and information describing eligibility requirements and
instructions on how to return the completed form. SB 854
(Ridley-Thomas), Ch. 481, Statutes of 2007, amended the law to
require every CCC and CSU that operates an automated class
registration system to permit students, during the class
registration process, to receive a voter registration
application that is preprinted with personal information
relevant to voter registration, as specified. Under the law,
the UC is encouraged to comply with this provision.
In September 2012, the SOS launched California's online voter
registration application system allowing people to
electronically submit their entire voter registration
application, including their signature on file with the DMV, via
a secure infrastructure developed by the SOS.
The Student Voter Registration Act also requires the SOS to
provide every high school, CCC, CSU, and UC campus with voter
registration forms. Specifically, current law requires the SOS
to send voter registration cards to each school consistent with
the number of students enrolled at each school that are of
voting age or will be of voting age by the end of the year.
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However, according to the SOS's 2009 annual report to the
Legislature, automatically mailing to each high school and
college campus based solely on the number of 17- and 18-year-old
students enrolled, was not cost effective. Consequently, since
2009, given the cost of the program, and feedback from many
schools that they did not need additional voter registration
applications, the SOS's office has been proactively contacting
all schools to ask how many, if any, voter registration
applications the campuses would like to receive.
COMMENTS
1.According to the Author : Since the introduction of
California's online voter registration application in
September of 2012, more than a million Californians have used
the application to register to vote. The online application
provides a cost-effective, accurate, secure, and convenient
way to apply to register to vote. However, voter registration
is not always conducted privately or on devices owned by the
applicant. For example, advocacy organizations, political
parties, campaigns, non-partisan civic groups, and other
entities, which are an important part of voter registration
outreach, often assist applicants with registration. With the
advent of online voter registration, many of these
organizations may want to use computers or mobile devices,
including smart phones, tablets or laptops, to help register
voters.
California has laws and regulations for voter registration
drives that ensure the privacy of voters' personal
information, outlaw the discrimination or intimidation of
voters, and facilitate fraud investigations. However,
existing law is specific to the use of paper voter
registration cards and does not clearly apply to online
registration.
AB 1446 updates the Elections Code by applying many of these
same duties and responsibilities to online registration
drives. In addition, the bill takes into account the unique
nature of internet-based registration by applying reasonable
limits and safeguards to protect voter privacy and prevent the
unlawful use of voter registration information.
AB 1446 also updates the Student Voter Registration Act to
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reflect the availability of online voter registration. For
many years, the Secretary of State has partnered with the
University of California, California State University, and
Community Colleges, as well as with all California high
schools, to give students access to voter registration. Under
current law, students registering for college classes online
are given an opportunity to register to vote. However, those
systems were not directly linked to the online voter
registration system. This bill updates the Student Voter
Registration Act to allow for the continued use of paper voter
registration cards while including the increased efficiency,
accuracy, and convenience of online voter registration.
AB 1446 protects the personal information of those who, with the
assistance of a third party, register to vote online; and it
updates the Student Voter Registration Act to better integrate
online voter registration.
2.Online Voter Registration : SB 397 (Yee), Ch. 561, Statutes of
2011, authorized the SOS, in conjunction with the California
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), to implement online voter
registration prior to the completion of a new statewide voter
registration database. According to the SOS's office, in the
first 12 months after the launch of the online voter
registration application on September 19, 2012, more than
911,145 Californians registered for the first time or updated
their voter record using
the online system. Additionally, aside from making
registering to vote easier, it has also saved California money
in printing and mailing costs and made the process more
efficient for county elections officials.
3.Similar Legislation : SB 44 (Yee), Ch. 277, Statutes of 2013,
required each Internet Web site maintained by the state to
include a hyperlink on the site's homepage to the online voter
registration page of the Internet Web site of the SOS. SB 361
(Padilla) requires the DMV, the CCC, CSU, and NVRA-designated
voter registration agencies to allow customers, students, and
clients, respectively, to submit voter registration forms
electronically to the SOS one year after the SOS certifies
that the state has a statewide voter registration database in
compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. SB
361 is currently on the Assembly Appropriations suspense file.
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SB 397 (Yee), Ch. 561, Statutes of 2011, authorized the SOS, in
conjunction with the DMV, to implement online voter
registration prior to the completion of a new statewide voter
registration database.
AB 1357 (Swanson), Ch. 192, Statutes of 2011, required the SOS,
in consultation with county election officials, to design and
make an affidavit of registration available on the SOS's
Internet Web site, among other provisions.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-4
Assembly Floor: 55-18
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Secretary of State
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
California State Student Association (CSSA)
Rock the Vote
Oppose: None received
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