BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Alex Padilla, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1768 HEARING DATE: 6/17/14
AUTHOR: FONG ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 5/23/14
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Declaration of candidacy: residence address
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires a candidate for public office to file a
declaration of candidacy that contains, among other things, the
residence address of the candidate.
Existing law provides that a candidate for judicial office is
not required to state his or her residence address on a
declaration of candidacy.
Existing law requires an elections official to verify whether a
candidate's residence address is within the appropriate
political subdivision and add a specified notation on the
declaration of candidacy if the candidate does not state his or
her residence address on the declaration.
Existing law establishes procedures to make a voter's
registration information confidential, including a voter's
residence address.
This bill provides that at the discretion of an elections
official, a candidate for any office whose voter registration is
confidential, may withhold his or her residence address from the
declaration of candidacy.
BACKGROUND
What is Confidential Voter Registration : Existing law permits
any person who is filing a new affidavit of registration or
reregistration with the county elections official to have the
information relating to his or her residence address, telephone
number and e-mail address appearing on the affidavit, or any
list or roster or index prepared therefrom, declared
confidential upon order of a superior court issued upon a
showing of good cause that a life-threatening circumstance
exists to the voter or member of the voter's household.
Existing law also allows Safe at Home program participants to
have their voter registration information kept confidential.
The Safe at Home program, created by SB 489 (Alpert), Ch. 1005,
Statutes of 1998, allows victims of domestic violence or
stalking to apply to the Secretary of State (SOS) to request an
alternate address to be used in public records. The purpose of
that program is to "enable state and local agencies to respond
to requests for public records without disclosing the changed
name or location of a victim of domestic violence or stalking."
The SOS provides a substitute, publicly accessible address for
these victims while protecting their actual residences or
locations. In 2002, the Safe at Home program was expanded by
means of AB 797 (Shelley), Ch. 380, Statutes of 2002, to include
persons working or volunteering in the reproductive health care
field.
Subject to certain conditions, public safety officers can have
their residence address, telephone number, and e-mail address,
as it appears on their affidavit of voter registration, made
confidential by completing and submitting an application to the
county elections official and signing a statement under penalty
of perjury that a life-threatening circumstance exists to the
officer or a member of the officer's family.
Under these programs, any individual granted confidentiality is
considered a vote by mail voter for all subsequent elections or
until the county elections official is notified otherwise.
Confidential voters are required to provide a valid mailing
address to be used in place of the residence address for
election, scholarly, or political research, and government
purposes. The elections official, in producing any list,
roster, or index may, at his or her choice, use the valid
mailing address or the word "confidential" or some similar
designation in place of the residence address.
COMMENTS
1. According to the Author : This measure allows, at the
discretion of the elections official, any candidates with
AB 1768 (FONG)
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confidential voter registration records to omit their
residence addresses from the declaration of candidacy for
their safety similar to a provision of law that already
applies to candidates for judicial office.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 17-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
California State Sheriffs' Association
Oppose: None received
AB 1768 (FONG)
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