BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1589
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 9, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                AB 1589 (Frazier) - As Introduced:  February 3, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill deletes the stipulation that a military or overseas  
          voter's email address is only valid, for purposes of receiving  
          voter information and a ballot, up to December 31 of the year  
          following the calendar year of the voter's 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.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible costs for county elections official to maintain email  
          addresses of military and overseas voters beyond the current  
          expiration period.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  . AB 1805 (Huffman)/Statutes of 2012, was a uniform  
            law establishing new voting procedures for military and  
            overseas voters and was intended to 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. Applying a uniform law across  
            states, however, can be complicated and have unintended  
            consequences. 

           2)Purpose  . AB 1589, sponsored by the Secretary of State, seeks  
            to address a provision that could unintentionally result in  
            the disenfranchisement of military or overseas voters. This  
            bill eliminates a provision of law requiring a military and  








                                                                  AB 1589
                                                                  Page  2

            overseas voter to renew his or her request every two years in  
            order to receive voter information and a blank, unvoted ballot  
            by email.  Under current 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, thus their  
            request is considered 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. Prior to enactment of AB 1805, no  
            expiration date applied to requests to receive a VBM ballot  
            via electronic transmission. This bill therefore reestablishes  
            consistency among all three means of transmittal, and will  
            ensure all requests from military and overseas voters to  
            receive VBM ballots are treated the same.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081