BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1446
Author: Mullin (D)
Amended: 3/25/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 4-0, 6/17/14
AYES: Padilla, Hancock, Jackson, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-18, 5/1/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Voter registration: personal information
SOURCE : Secretary of State
DIGEST : This bill updates the voter registration process to
reflect the availability of online voter registration.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.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 SOS' Internet Web site.
2.Requires the SOS, in consultation with county elections
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officials, to design and make an affidavit of registration
available on the SOS's Internet Web site, as specified.
3.Permits a citizen or an organization to distribute voter
registration cards anywhere in the applicable county, as
specified.
4.Establishes penalties for fraudulent activity related to voter
registration.
5.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.
6.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.
7.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:
1.Requires an individual or organization that distributes voter
registration cards, a person entrusted with an affidavit of
registration from an elector, 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:
(1) The harassment of a voter or member of the voter's
household;
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(2) The advertising, solicitation, sale, or marketing of
products or services to a voter or member of the voter's
household; and
(3) Reproduction in print, broadcast visual or audio, or
display on the Internet.
A. Requires an individual or organization, as described, 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.
1.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.
2.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.
3.Requires the SOS to report to the Legislature, as specified,
how many electronic affidavits of voter registration were
submitted by students, as described.
4.Deletes legislative intent language that every high school and
college student receive a voter registration card with his/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. 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
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system in notices sent by electronic mail to students and
placed on the Internet Web site of the high school, college,
or university.
5.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.
Permits a county to provide a hyperlink on the county's
Internet Web site to the SOS's electronic voter registration
system.
6.Requires an individual or organization that distributes voter
registration cards designed, as specified, 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.
7.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.
8.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.
9.Makes other conforming and corresponding changes.
Background
The Student Voter Registration Act of 2003, created by AB 593
(Ridley-Thomas, Chapter 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
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form. SB 854 (Ridley-Thomas, Chapter 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
Department of Motor Vehicles, 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, existing 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.
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/2/14)
Secretary of State (source)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California State Student Association
Rock the Vote
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office:
Since the introduction of California's online voter
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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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-18, 5/1/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro,
Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Roger
Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Harkey, Jones, Logue,
Maienschein, Melendez, Nestande, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Brown, Hagman, Hall, Linder, Mansoor, Salas,
Vacancy
RM:e 7/2/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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