BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1873
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1873 (Gonzalez and Mullin)
As Amended April 22, 2014
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 4-2
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|Ayes:|Bonta, Hall, Perea, | | |
| |Rodriguez | | |
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|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Fong, Donnelly | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Allows special elections to fill vacancies in the
California Legislature (Legislature) and the United States
Congress (Congress) to be conducted by mailed ballot. Allows a
county election to fill a vacancy on the board of supervisors or
a city special election to be conducted 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 affected county
authorizes the use of mailed ballots;
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 drop-off location is provided per
city, and at least one drop-off location is provided in
unincorporated areas for every 100,000 registered voters,
and such locations are open during business hours to
receive voted ballots beginning 21 days before the
election;
d) The elections official provides for at least six hours
of voting at the office of the elections official on at
least one Saturday and Sunday after the ballots are
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delivered to voters;
e) 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 specified, 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 need replacement ballots for any
reason;
f) Each voter receives all supplies necessary for the use
and return of the mail ballot, including a return envelope
for the voted ballot with postage prepaid;
g) Each voter receives a list of the ballot drop-off and
polling place locations, and that list is posted on the
Internet Web site of the county elections office;
h) 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 ballot identification
envelope is signed and dated on or before election day.
i) Allows jurisdictions that have the necessary computer
capability to begin processing vote by mail (VBM) ballots
on the 10th business day prior to the election, instead of
the seventh business day prior to the election.
2)Allows a municipal special election to be conducted by mailed
ballot. Allows a special election to fill a vacancy on a
county board of supervisors to be conducted 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
all of the jurisdictions within the overlapping boundaries
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must agree to conduct the election as an all-mailed ballot
election.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : 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 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."
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. 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.
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
be anticipated in advance, so elections official may not be able
to prepare in advance for these elections.
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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.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0003397