BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1817
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1817 (Gomez) - As Introduced: February 18, 2014
SUBJECT : Voter registration: deputy registrars of voters: high
school pupils.
SUMMARY : Permits a governing board of a school district to
authorize a high school pupil 16 years of age or older to become
a deputy registrar of voters and to register qualified pupils to
vote on his or her high school campus.
EXISTING LAW :
1)States the intent of the Legislature that county elections
officials, in order to promote and encourage voter
registration, shall enlist the support and cooperation of
interested citizens and organizations, and shall deputize as
registrars qualified citizens.
2)Provides that any person who is a registered voter qualifies
for appointment as a deputy registrar of voters.
3)Permits the governing board of a county, city, city and
county, district, or other public agency to authorize and
assign an officer or employee to become a deputy registrar of
voters and register qualified citizens on any premise or
facility owned or controlled by the agency.
4)Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that
registrars continue to be deputized by the county elections
official and their activities shall not be limited where their
services are needed but that as the electorate becomes more
conversant with mail registration procedures, the number of
deputy registrars will naturally diminish due to the decrease
in the demand for services.
5)Provides that the county elections official shall provide
voter registration forms for use in registration by deputy
registrars of voters and the forms shall be bound into books
or pads. Requires the forms to be numbered and have a stub
attached.
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6)Provides that each deputy registrar of voters shall be issued
a receipt by the county elections official for all books or
pads issued, specifying the numbers of the affidavits received
and the deputy is responsible for them until they are returned
to the county elections official.
7)Provides that each paper affidavit of registration shall be in
a form prescribed by regulations adopted by the Secretary of
State (SOS) except that affidavits of voter registration
issued to a deputy registrar of voters shall be modified to
reflect the use of a deputy registrar of voters in lieu of
mail delivery and specifies the following:
a) The affidavit of registration must include a stub
printed with the following:
i) The number of the affidavit.
ii) Blank lines for the following information:
(1) Name of the voter;
(2) Residence of the voter;
(3) Political affiliation of the voter;
(4) Signature of the voter;
(5) Signature of the deputy taking the
registration; and,
(6) The date.
b) At the time of registration the deputy shall:
i) Fill in the blanks in the stub and require the voter
to sign the stub in the place provided.
ii) Detach the stub and the information portion of the
voter registration form from the affidavit and hand the
stub and information to the voter.
8)Provides that on the day of the close of registration for any
election, all deputy registrars of voters shall immediately
return all completed affidavits of registration in their
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possession to the county elections official.
9)Provides that any deputy registrar of voters having charge of
affidavits of registration is guilty of a misdemeanor who
knowingly neglects or refuses to return affidavits of
registration as specified and the county elections official
shall report to the district attorney of the county, under
oath, the names of any deputies who have failed to return the
affidavits.
10)Provides that the county elections official shall provide
voter registration cards in sufficient quantities to any
citizens or organizations who wish to distribute the cards
other than to persons who have been convicted of violating
specified provisions of law within the last five years.
Provides that citizens and organizations shall be permitted to
distribute voter registration cards anywhere within the county
and are required to return them to the elections official or
deposit them in the postal service within three days of
receipt from a voter, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and state
holidays.
11)Provides that if a person, including the deputy registrar of
voters, assists the affiant in completing the affidavit, that
person shall sign and date the affidavit below the signature
of the affiant.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
The goal of the bill is to empower students, to begin
leading their own connections to civic engagement and the
electoral process. AB 1817 will allow students 16 years of
age or older to have the opportunity to apply to be a
deputy registrar though their local high school. The
benefits of allowing a student to be a deputy registrar
will involve students in the process and encourage their
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peers to participate.
2)Voter Outreach : Under existing law a person is entitled to
register to vote if they are a United States citizen, a
resident of California, not in prison or on parole for the
conviction of a felony, and at least 18 years of age at the
time of the next election.
Existing law also provides that it is the intent of the
Legislature that the election board of each county, in order
to promote and encourage voter registration, shall establish a
sufficient number of registration places throughout the
county, and outside the county courthouse, for the convenience
of persons desiring to register, to the end that registration
may be maintained at a high level. It also states its desire
to promote and encourage voter registration by enlisting the
support and cooperation of interested citizens and
organizations and requires the elections official to provide
voter registration cards in sufficient quantities to any
citizens or organizations who wish to distribute the cards
anywhere in the county.
Further, state law declares the intent of the Legislature in
efforts to increase voter registration opportunities to
deputize qualified citizens as registrars of voters in such a
way as to reach most effectively every resident of the county.
State law also declares the intent of the Legislature that
the introduction of registration by mail shall not in any way
lead to administrative limitations on the use of deputy
registrars of voters for the purpose of assisting in the
registration of persons who may require such assistance with
the understanding that as the electorate becomes more
conversant with mail registration procedures, the number of
deputy registrars will naturally diminish due to a decrease in
demand for their services.
This measure expands the list of persons who can be appointed
to become a deputy registrar of voters to include pupils who
are 16 years of age or older and have been authorized by the
governing board of a school district, but are otherwise
ineligible to register to vote due to their age. As a deputy
registrar of voters, an appointed pupil may register qualified
citizens to vote on school premises.
3)High School Student Voter Registration : Existing law mandates
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that the last two full weeks in April and the last two full
weeks in September shall be known as "high school voter
weeks," during which time deputy registrars of voters shall be
allowed to register students and school personnel on any high
school campus in areas designated by the school
administration, which are reasonably accessible to all
students.
Existing law requires the SOS to provide a written notice with
each registration form describing eligibility requirements and
informing each student that he or she may return the completed
form in person or by mail to the elections official of the
county in which the student resides or the SOS.
4)Who Can Register Voters ? Nothing in existing law prevents any
person or organization from providing voter registration
materials or assisting a qualified voter to complete his or
her affidavit of voter registration. Under existing law you
are not required to be a registered voter, be a particular
age, or be a resident of the area in order to register voters.
Any person who assists a voter in completing his or her voter
registration card is required to sign the card in the spaces
provided for that purpose and return any completed cards to
the county elections official or deposit them in the postal
service within three days of receipt from a voter, excluding
Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays.
A deputy registrar of voters is a registered voter who has
been appointed and deputized by the county elections official
to register voters anywhere in the county. They use
specifically designed affidavits to register voters that have
a stub printed at the bottom. The affidavits are numbered,
bound in books or pads and issued to individual deputies and
cannot be returned by mail to the elections official. For each
affidavit of registration completed by a voter, the deputy is
required to fill out a stub at the bottom and both the deputy
and the affiant are required to add their signatures after
which the deputy detaches the stub and gives it to the voter.
These books or pads are returned to the county elections
official on the day of the close of registration for any
election. Failure to return affidavits of registration as
specified may be subject to misdemeanor penalties.
The committee may wish to consider whether pupils would want
to take on the responsibility of being appointed as a deputy
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registrar of voters which carries additional obligations when
nothing in existing law prevents pupils from distributing
voter registration cards and assisting qualified voters to
register to vote. In order to reflect the authors intent of
taking steps to encourage youth participation while not making
students subject to the restrictions imposed on deputy
registrars, the author and committee may wish to amend this
bill as follows:
On page 2, amend lines 1 through 7 as follows; and remove the
remaining contents of the bill:
SECTION 1. Section 49041 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
49041. The governing board of a school district may authorize
a high school pupil 16 years of age or older to become a
deputy registrar of voters, and to register to vote qualified
pupils any person pursuant to Section 2102 of the Elections
Code on his or her high school campus , pursuant to Section
2103 of the Elections Code during high school voter weeks, as
specified in Section 49040, or at any other time as deemed
appropriate by the governing board.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
State Bar of California
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094