BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1873
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1873 (Gonzalez and Mullin)
As Amended August 22, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |44-32|(May 29, 2014) |SENATE: | | |
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(vote not available)
Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
SUMMARY : Allows special elections in San Diego County, to fill
vacancies in the California Legislature (Legislature) and the
United States Congress (Congress), to be conducted by mailed
ballot until 2020, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits a special election in San Diego County, held to fill a
vacancy in the Legislature or in Congress, to be conducted by
mailed ballot subject to all of the following conditions:
a) The board of supervisors 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 not less than seven days
before the election;
d) The elections official provides for at least six hours
of voting at a satellite location within the congressional
or legislative district on at least one Saturday and Sunday
after the ballots are 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 10,000 registered voters within the
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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) Polling places are established in accordance with
existing state and federal accessibility requirements, and
access to polling places is evenly distributed throughout
the congressional or legislative district;
g) 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;
h) Each voter receives all of the following from the
elections official:
i) A notice, translated into all languages as required
by state and federal law, that informs voters of the
following:
(1) That the election is being conducted by mail
and that each eligible voter will received a ballot by
mail;
(2) The voter may cast a ballot in person at a
satellite location; and,
(3) The voter may request the county elections
official to send a ballot in a language other than
English pursuant to state and federal law;
ii) 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; and,
iii) A postage-paid postcard that the voter may return to
the elections official for the purpose of requesting a
ballot in a language other than English.
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.
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2)Contains a January 1, 2020 sunset date.
The Senate amendments :
1)Limit the provisions of this bill solely to special vacancy
elections in San Diego County.
2)Provide that a ballot drop-off location provided for under
this bill shall consist of a locked ballot box located in a
secure public building that meets the accessibility
requirements for a polling place.
3)Clarify requirements that polling places and voting equipment
used in elections conducted pursuant to this bill must be
accessible to individuals with disabilities.
4)Repeal provisions that would have provided that a ballot was
timely cast if it was received by the elections official no
later than three days after election day and postmarked by
election day, as specified, and instead require ballots to be
received in accordance with existing law.
5)Require the elections official to send each voter a
postage-paid postcard that the voter may return to the
official for the purposes of requesting a ballot in a language
other than English.
6)Require the elections official, if an election is to be
conducted as a mailed ballot election pursuant to this bill,
to submit a voter education and outreach plan to the Secretary
of State (SOS). Require the plan to include the following:
a) One education and outreach meeting with stakeholders
representing each community for which the county is
required to provide voting materials and assistance in
languages other than English, and one meeting including
organizations and individuals that advocate on behalf of
individuals with disabilities;
b) At least one bilingual voter education program for each
language in which the county is required to provide voting
materials and assistance in languages other than English,
and at least one voter education program to increase
accessibility for participation of eligible voters with
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disabilities;
c) A toll-free voter assistance hotline maintained by the
county elections official that shall be operational no
later than the date that vote by mail ballots are mailed to
voters until 5 p.m. on the day after the special election,
and that provides assistance to voters in all languages in
which the county is required to provide voting materials;
d) At least one public service announcement in the media
that serve English-speaking citizens, and at least one
public service announcement in the media that serve
non-English-speaking citizens for each language in which
the county is required to provide voting materials, for
purposes of informing voters of the upcoming election and
promoting the toll-free voter assistance hotline;
e) A voter education social media strategy that is
developed in partnership with organizations and individuals
that advocate on behalf of, or provide services to,
non-English-speaking individuals and individuals with
disabilities.
7)Require the voter education and outreach plan to be posted on
the Internet Web sites of the SOS and of the county elections
official.
8)Require the county elections official, for the purpose of
reporting the results of an election conducted pursuant to
this bill, to report election results by precinct.
9)Require San Diego County, if an election is conducted pursuant
to this bill, to report to the Legislature and to the SOS
regarding the success of the election, including, but not
limited to, any statistics on the cost to conduct the
election; the turnout of different populations, including, but
not limited to and to the extent possible, the population
categories of race, ethnicity, language preference, age,
gender, disability, permanent vote by mail status, and
political party affiliation as it relates to the languages
required under the federal Voting Rights Act; the number of
ballots that were not counted and the reasons they were
rejected; voter fraud; and any other problems that became
known to the county during the election or canvass. Require
the report, whenever possible, to compare the election
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conducted pursuant to this bill to similar elections not
conducted as mailed ballot elections in the same jurisdiction
or comparable jurisdictions.
10)Add various findings and declarations.
11)Make corresponding and technical changes.
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
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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.
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 Senate amendments narrowed this bill so that it is
applicable only in San Diego County and imposed a number of new
requirements on any special election that is conducted as a
mailed ballot election pursuant to this bill. This bill, as
amended in the Senate, is consistent with Assembly actions.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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