BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1589
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Date of Hearing: April 1, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1589 (Frazier) - As Introduced: February 3, 2014
SUBJECT : Military or overseas voters: electronic ballots.
SUMMARY : Deletes provisions of law that require a military or
overseas voter's electronic mail address to expire no later than
December 31 of the year following the calendar year of the
application and instead requires an elections official to
provide for electronic delivery of a ballot to a military or
overseas voter who makes a standing request for all elections
conducted in the jurisdiction in which he or she is eligible to
vote.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires each elections official to have a system available
which allows a military or overseas voter to electronically
request and receive a vote by mail (VBM) application, an
unvoted ballot, and other information.
2)Requires elections officials to request an electronic mail
address from each military or overseas voter who registers, as
specified. Permits a military or overseas voter who provides
an email address to request that his or her application for a
ballot be considered a standing request for electronic
delivery of a ballot for all elections held through December
31 of the year following the calendar year of the date of the
application or another shorter period as specified by the
voter.
3)Requires elections officials to send VBM ballots by means of
transmission (mail, facsimile, or electronic transmission)
requested by a qualified military or overseas voter.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
AB 1589
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Members of the military and other U.S. citizens living
overseas are allowed to receive their voter information and
blank, unvoted ballots by mail, fax, or email. For voters
who request their ballot by mail or by fax, that request is
considered to be a standing request for each election until
such time that the voter changes their preference or does
not vote in a certain number of regularly scheduled
statewide elections.
However, voters who request their ballot be emailed to them
are treated differently because under state law, a voter's
request to receive a ballot by email is only good for two
years. Only military and overseas voters who request their
ballot by email are subject to this "expiration" of their
ballot delivery address.
For some members of the U.S. military serving overseas, an
email address may be their most effective method of contact
with an elections official. If state law continues to
require that the email addresses of overseas soldiers must
be renewed every two years, it is likely that some of the
people who put their lives on the line for democracy will
be disenfranchised when their email address expires. No
other address provided for ballot delivery automatically
expires unless that expiration is specifically requested by
the voter.
AB 1589 removes the "email expiration" language from state
law, allowing a request for ballot delivery to stand for as
long as the military or overseas voter is eligible for
email delivery of their ballot. It simply makes no sense to
disenfranchise the brave men and women serving our country
overseas with a rule that makes it more difficult for them
to receive and cast their ballots in a timely fashion.
2)Background : In 2012, the Legislature passed and the Governor
signed AB 1805 (Huffman), Chapter 744, Statutes of 2012, which
was a uniform law that established new voting procedures for
military and overseas voters and was written in a way that it
could be applicable in multiple states that have different
election procedures. AB 1805 was an effort to address the
lack of uniformity between states regarding the ability of
overseas and military voters to vote in state and local
elections, which complicates efforts to more fully enfranchise
those voters. However, applying a uniform law across states
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can be complicated and unintended consequences can occur.
This bill seeks to address such a situation and address a
uniform provision of law that could unintentionally result in
the disenfranchisement of military or overseas voters.
This bill eliminates a provision of law that requires a military
and overseas voter to renew his or her request to receive
voter information and a blank, unvoted ballot by email every
two years. Under existing law, a military or overseas voter
that requests his or her ballot be transmitted via mail or
facsimile is not subject to the same requirements. As a
result, if a military or overseas voter requests that his or
her ballot be received via mail or facsimile, that request is
considered to be a standing request for each election until
such time that the voter changes their preference or does not
vote in a certain number of regularly scheduled statewide
elections, as specified. Prior to the passage of AB 1805
state law did not require an expiration date to apply to
requests to receive a VBM ballot via electronic transmission.
This bill, which eliminates the requirement for a military or
overseas voter to renew their request to receive a VBM ballot
via email every two years, will ensure all requests from
military and overseas voters to receive VBM ballots are
treated the same.
3)Arguments in Support : The sponsor of this bill, Secretary of
State Debra Bowen, writes:
Californians in the military or living overseas are
eligible to vote when they are serving or living out of the
country. Many military and overseas voters, especially
those who are serving in combat, do not have a stable
physical address where they can receive their ballots. Due
to the challenges these voters face in receiving mail in a
timely fashion, California law allows them to receive their
voter information and unvoted ballot by mail, fax, or
electronic mail (email).
However, voters who request their ballot be emailed to them
are treated differently than other voters because under
state law, a voter's request to receive a ballot by email
is good for only two years. Only military and overseas
voters who request their ballot by email are subject to
this "expiration" of their ballot delivery address. There
is no reason California should risk disenfranchising an
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overseas member by treating him or her differently than
other voters.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Secretary of State Debra Bowen (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094