BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1873
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1873 (Gonzalez & Mullin) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
SUBJECT : Mail ballot elections.
SUMMARY : Allows special elections to fill vacancies in the
Legislature and Congress to be conducted entirely by mailed
ballot. Allows any county election to fill a vacancy on the
board of supervisors or any city special election to be
conducted entirely by mailed ballot. Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits a special election held to fill a vacancy in the
Legislature or in Congress to be conducted entirely by mailed
ballot subject to all of the following conditions:
a) The board of supervisors of each county that lies in
whole or in part within the district authorizes the use of
mailed ballots for the election through the adoption of a
resolution;
b) The election does not occur on the same date as a
statewide primary or general election, or any other
election conducted in an overlapping jurisdiction that is
not consolidated and conducted wholly by mail;
c) At least one ballot dropoff location is provided per
city, and is open during business hours to receive voted
ballots beginning 21 days before the date of the election;
d) The number of dropoff locations in unincorporated areas
is based on the number of registered voters in those areas,
divided by 100,000 and rounded to the next whole number,
with not less than one location selected;
e) On at least one Saturday and Sunday after the date the
elections official first delivers ballots to voters, the
elections official allows any voter to vote the ballot at
the office of the elections official. Provides that the
elections official shall determine the hours of operation
provided that the office is open for a minimum of six hours
on each designated Saturday and Sunday;
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f) At least one polling place is provided per city or the
polling places are fixed in a manner so that there is one
polling place for every 100,000 residents within the
district, as determined by the annual city total population
rankings by the Demographic Research Unit of the Department
of Finance, on the 88th day prior to the day of the
election, whichever results in more polling places.
Provides that a polling place shall allow voters to request
a ballot between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the day of the
election if they have not received their ballots in the
mail or if they need replacement ballots for any reason;
g) Upon the request of the city, county, or district, the
elections official may provide additional ballot dropoff
locations and polling places;
h) The elections official delivers to each voter all
supplies necessary for the use and return of the mail
ballot, including an envelope for the return of the voted
mail ballot with postage prepaid;
i) The elections official delivers to each voter, with
either the sample ballot or with the voter's ballot, a list
of the ballot dropoff and polling place locations, and
posts that list on the Internet Web site of the county
elections office;
j) Provides that a ballot is timely cast if it is received
by the voter's elections official no later than three days
after election day and either of the following is
satisfied:
i) The ballot is postmarked or is time stamped or date
stamped by a bona fide private mail delivery company on
or before election day; or,
ii) If the ballot has no postmark, a postmark with no
date, or an illegible postmark, the vote by mail (VBM)
ballot identification envelope is signed and dated on or
before election day.
aa) Allows jurisdictions that have the necessary computer
capability to begin processing VBM ballots on the 10th
business day prior to the election, instead of the seventh
business day prior to the election.
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2)Allows any municipal special election to be conducted entirely
by mailed ballot. Allows a special election to fill a vacancy
on a county board of supervisors to be conducted entirely by
mailed ballot. Repeals a provision of law that prohibits
specified all-mailed ballot elections in cities and districts
from being consolidated with other elections, and instead
provides that in a consolidated election in which boundaries
overlap, all of the jurisdictions within the overlapping
boundaries must agree to conduct the election as an all-mailed
ballot election.
3)Makes corresponding changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Permits an election to be conducted wholly by mail if the
governing body authorizes the use of mailed ballots for the
election, the election occurs on an established mailed ballot
election date, and the election is one of the following:
a) An election in which no more than 1,000 registered
voters are eligible to participate;
b) An election in a city, county, or district with 5,000 or
fewer registered voters that is restricted to the
imposition of special taxes, expenditure limitation
overrides, or both;
c) An election on the issuance of a general obligation
water bond;
d) An election in one of four specifically enumerated water
districts; or,
e) An election or assessment ballot proceeding required or
authorized by the state constitution under Proposition 218.
2)Authorizes a school district or city with a population of
100,000 or less to conduct an all-mail ballot election to fill
a vacancy in a special election.
3)Authorizes a district to conduct any election as an all-mailed
ballot election on any date other than an established election
date.
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4)Provides that whenever there are 250 or fewer people
registered to vote in any precinct, the elections official may
deem the precinct as an all-mail ballot precinct. Provides
that no precinct may be divided solely in order to create an
all-mail precinct.
5)Provides that once a legislative or congressional vacancy
occurs, the Governor has 14 days to issue a proclamation
declaring the date of the special election. Requires the
special run-off election to occur between 126 and 140 days
after the date of the proclamation with the special primary
election occurring the ninth Tuesday preceding the special
run-off, except as specified. Permits the special runoff
election to be held up to 180 days after the date of the
Governor's proclamation if it will allow either the special
runoff or special primary to coincide with an existing state
or local election involving at least half the voters in the
affected jurisdiction.
6)Permits Yolo County, as part of a pilot program lasting
through January 1, 2018, to conduct elections on up to three
dates as all-mailed ballot elections, subject to certain
conditions and reporting requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Assembly Bill 1873, known as the Voting Ought To be
Easy (VOTE) Act, seeks to improve two major
shortcomings with special elections in California -
the widespread non-participation by voters in these
low-profile electoral contests and the costliness of
operating a special election on taxpayers. Together,
the apparent inefficiency of the special election
status quo has invited well-meaning but risky
alternatives that undermine the public's right to an
election and our State government's system of checks
and balances. AB 1873 allows county and local
governments the opportunity to avoid the low
participation and high costs involved in special
elections by conducting these special elections
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entirely by mail ballot, a process which has shown to
majorly reduce costs and increase access to democracy.
In exchange, the county or local government opting in
to the mail-only election process agrees to several
measures that further expands voter access. These
conditions include providing postage-paid envelopes
for return ballots and honoring any ballot received
with a postmark by Election Day, similar to tax forms
postmarked by April 15 are still "on time." Our
democracy flourishes when more eligible voters
participate and AB 1873 helps move our state in that
direction for special elections.
2)Vote by Mail and Permanent Vote by Mail Voting : Under state
law, any voter can request a VBM ballot for any election, and
any voter can become a permanent VBM voter. Permanent VBM
voters automatically receive a ballot in the mail for every
election, without the need to re-apply for a VBM ballot. As
such, any voter who prefers to vote by mail has the ability to
do so under existing law.
Among the arguments that supporters of all-mailed ballot
elections frequently make in support of such elections is that
all-mailed ballot elections are more convenient for voters.
However, it is not clear whether this is the case. Any voter
who finds it more convenient to vote by mail has the option to
do so under existing law, and voters who want to vote by mail
at every election can sign up for permanent VBM status. Some
voters, due to physical disability or language issues, may
prefer to vote at the polls in order to take advantage of
access or help provided by electronic voting machines or
bilingual poll workers.
3)Yolo County Pilot Project : In 2011, the Legislature approved
and the Governor signed AB 413 (Yamada), Chapter 187, Statutes
of 2011, which created a pilot program allowing Yolo County to
conduct local elections on not more than three dates as
all-mailed ballot elections. AB 413 was intended to serve as
a pilot project to evaluate the desirability of further
expanding the circumstances under which elections are
permitted to be conducted as all-mailed ballot elections.
Yolo County conducted all-mailed ballot elections last March
in the City of Davis and the Washington Unified School
District as permitted by AB 413, and submitted its report on
those elections last December. The pilot project in Yolo
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County was authorized following a prior pilot project in
Monterey County that failed to provide useful information
about the impacts of all-mailed ballot elections because the
report filed by Monterey County as part of the pilot project
lacked much of the information that was necessary to evaluate
the impacts of the pilot project.
The report prepared in connection with the first two elections
conducted in Yolo County under the pilot project found that
turnout at the all-mailed ballot elections conducted as part
of the pilot project was not significantly different than
similar polling place elections held in the two jurisdictions
in prior years. The study also found that turnout rates
broken down by age, ethnic background, party preference, and
permanent VBM status was consistent and similar between the
polling place and the all-mailed ballot elections. The study
found that data provided on the cost to conduct all-mailed
ballot elections was inconclusive in determining whether there
are significant savings to moving to all-mailed ballot
elections. However, the study also cautioned that Davis-one
of the jurisdictions in which the pilot was conducted-"is a
relatively affluent, homogenous community with a higher level
of educational achievement than most other areas of the state"
and so the results "are not necessarily applicable to other,
dissimilar communities." The report also noted that the
effects of all-mailed ballot elections on turnout would not
necessarily be similar in general elections.
Yolo County is permitted to conduct local elections as
all-mailed ballot elections on two additional dates before the
conclusion of the pilot project. The committee may wish to
consider whether it is desirable to expand the circumstances
under which elections can be conducted entirely by mail prior
to the completion of the pilot project that the Legislature
authorized in an effort to get better information about the
impacts of such elections.
4)Special Vacancy Elections : In order to promptly fill
vacancies in the Legislature and in Congress, special
elections to fill such vacancies typically are conducted in a
shortened time period, and elections officials have less time
to prepare than they do for regularly scheduled elections.
Furthermore, because vacancies in the Legislature or in
Congress can occur due to the death of an officeholder or an
unexpected resignation, special vacancy elections often cannot
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be anticipated in advance, so elections official may not be
able to prepare in advance for these elections.
While certain elections may be conducted as all-mailed ballot
elections under existing law, most elections-particularly for
Legislature and Congress-are still conducted as traditional
elections, where voters have the ability to vote at a polling
place on election day. As a result, many voters who are
accustomed to voting at a polling place may expect that there
will be a neighborhood polling place at which they will be
able to vote in a special election for Legislature or
Congress. If such polling places are not going to be
provided, voter education and outreach efforts may be
necessary to ensure that voters who traditionally would vote
at a polling place are not negatively affected by this change
in election procedure. Given the unpredictable need and
expedited time frame for special elections, however, the
ability of elections officials to do effective voter education
and outreach may be limited. The committee may wish to
consider whether it is desirable to allow the use of a
balloting method-all-mailed ballot elections-with which many
voters are not familiar for special vacancy elections, given
that the abbreviated schedule for such elections limits the
ability to do education and outreach.
5)United States Postal Service Facility Closures and Mail
Delays : In 2012, this committee and the Senate Elections and
Constitutional Amendments Committee held a joint oversight
hearing to discuss United States Postal Service (USPS)
facility closures and the impact on voters and upcoming
elections. During the hearing, state and county elections
officials testified about the impact that recent post office
and processing facility closures had on their jurisdictions
and on local elections, as well as the anticipated challenges
with more closures expected.
According to testimony from elections officials, one of the most
significant impacts those closures had on the election process
is that there had been significant delays in mail delivery in
some circumstances. Elections officials from counties that
were previously served by closed facilities indicated that
some first class mail took five to seven days to arrive after
closures of USPS facilities, compared to the usual delivery
time of one to three days. Since that hearing, the USPS has
announced further plans for changes in mail delivery
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procedures that also have the potential to delay mail
delivery. Finally, the USPS and Congress have considered
proposals to end Saturday mail delivery as a way to cut costs.
The committee may wish to consider whether it is appropriate to
permit all-mail ballot elections to be used in a broader range
of circumstances when closures and operational changes by the
USPS may result in mail delivery delays, and otherwise make
mail delivery less reliable.
6)Arguments in Support : The sponsor of this bill, the County of
San Diego, writes in support:
Under existing law, county jurisdictions are mandated
to prepare and conduct special elections to fill a
vacancy in the office of a State Senator or Member of
the Assembly, or to fill a vacancy in the office of
United States Senator or Member of the United States
House of Representatives. Charter counties and cities
may conduct all-mail ballot elections for local
special elections should there be a clause in their
charters that permit them such authority. In contrast,
general law cities, and those who do not have
direction in their charter, are governed by state
voting procedures, which have strict limits on when
local special elections can be carried out as all-mail
ballot elections.
As you are aware, election trends indicate a
consistently low voter turnout for special elections,
which may have only a single issue or candidate on the
ballot. The number of mail ballots cast throughout
California is growing and prevailing as the preferred
method of voting. By allowing special elections to be
conducted by means of an all-mail ballot election, not
only may voter participation increase but there will
be a reduction in election costs which ultimately
saves taxpayer dollars. In addition, all-mail ballot
special elections provide convenience to voters, while
still providing many opportunities for civic
engagement.
7)Arguments in Opposition : Asian Americans Advancing
Justice-Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA), which has an
oppose unless amended position, writes:
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Advancing Justice-LA supports both legislative and
grassroots efforts to make it easier for voters to
vote by mail (VBM). We are aware that across the
state, the proportion of voters signing up for
permanent VBM status has trended upward over the past
decade. However, we believe it is premature for the
state to authorize jurisdictions to make VBM the
primary balloting option for voters in the absence of
information explaining why California ranks poorly
relative to other states with respect to VBM rejection
rates and VBM return rates?.
Additionally, although the overall proportion of VBM
voters in the state has increased over time, available
data highlight sizable age, racial and ethnic, and
other disparities between VBM voters and polling place
voters, as well as significant variations by region.
For example, a report by the California Civic
Engagement Project at the UC Davis Center for Regional
Change found that in the 2012 general election, the
proportion of youth voters (defined as ages 18-23) who
voted by mail was 25 percentage points lower than the
proportion of voters 64 years or older who voted by
mail.
Among racial and ethnic lines, the report found that
statewide, the rate of VBM usage among Latino voters
was 14 percentage points lower than the rate for all
voters as a whole, and that this gap was larger in
regions such as Southern California (encompassing Los
Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and
Ventura Counties). The report found that the rate of
VBM usage among Asian American voters was above that
of the general population; however, from voter
research that Advancing Justice-LA has conducted, we
know that the rate of VBM usage varies by Asian
American ethnic group. For example, among Los Angeles
County voters during the 2008 general election, Asian
Indian (22%), Cambodian (27%), and Filipino American
(26%) voters used the VBM balloting process at rates
near or below the countywide average (24%). Advancing
Justice-LA's belief is that policymakers should first
consider the potential challenges and disparities in
VBM usage noted above before enacting legislation that
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permits jurisdictions to make VBM balloting the
primary option for voters, whether in regularly
scheduled elections or special vacancy elections?
Even accepting the notion that all-mail ballot
elections may create increased turnout, we believe
that the unintended consequences of making VBM the
primary option for diverse electorates will impede the
achievement of increased turnout unless adequate
mitigation measures are taken. These unintended
consequences pertain to accessibility and education
and include the following:
Reduction in availability of language assistance
available at polling places under federal law, and
availability of in-person assistance in general&
Reduction in availability of language assistance
available at polling places under state law&
Large amount of voter education required to switch
to all-mail system?
8)Related Legislation : AB 2028 (Mullin), which is also being
heard in this committee today, would authorize San Mateo
County to participate in the ongoing all-mailed ballot pilot
project that is being conducted in Yolo County, as described
above.
SCA 16 (Steinberg), which is pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee, would permit the Governor to fill a
Legislative vacancy by appointment, as specified.
AB 2273 (Ridley-Thomas), which is pending in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, would require the state to reimburse
counties for the costs of special elections held to fill
vacancies in Congress and the Legislature, for all elections
held on or after January 1, 2013. AB 2273 was approved by
this committee on a 7-0 vote.
SB 942 (Vidak) would require the state to reimburse counties for
the costs of special elections held to fill vacancies in
Congress and the Legislature, for all elections held between
January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2014. SB 963 (Torres) is
identical to AB 2273. Both bills are pending in the Senate
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Appropriations Committee.
9)Previous Legislation : SB 304 (Kehoe) of 2011 would have
authorized elections in San Diego County to be conducted
wholly by mail until January 1, 2016, if specified conditions
were satisfied. SB 304 was never heard in committee.
SB 1102 (Liu) of 2010 would have permitted a special primary or
run-off election to fill a legislative or congressional
vacancy to be conducted wholly by mail provided that the board
of supervisors of each county within the affected jurisdiction
authorized the all-mail ballot election. SB 1102 was never
brought up for vote on the Senate Floor.
AB 1681 (Yamada) of 2010 was similar to AB 413. AB 1681 was
vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who expressed concern that
"with limited options to vote in-person citizens-especially
poor, elderly, and disabled voters-would not have sufficient
opportunity to vote."
AB 1228 (Yamada) of 2009 was similar to AB 1681, except that AB
1228 would have allowed both Yolo and Santa Clara Counties to
participate in the all-mail ballot pilot project. AB 1228 was
vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger for the same reasons stated
in his veto message of AB 1681 above.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
County of San Diego (sponsor)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (if
amended)
California State Association of Counties
California State Association of Letter Carriers
County of San Bernardino
Rural County Representatives of California
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Urban Counties Caucus
Opposition
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (unless amended)
Disability Rights California (unless amended)
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Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094