BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2028
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2028 (Mullin)
As Amended April 28, 2014
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 4-1
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|Ayes:|Bonta, Hall, Perea, | | |
| |Rodriguez | | |
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|Nays:|Donnelly | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes San Mateo County to participate in an
ongoing pilot project that allows certain elections to be
conducted entirely by mailed ballot. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows San Mateo County to join a pilot program currently
underway in Yolo County, under which Yolo County is permitted
to conduct all-mailed ballot elections on up to three
different dates through January 1, 2018, subject to certain
conditions and reporting requirements.
2)Modifies one of the conditions of the pilot program such that
the number of ballot drop-off locations required to be
provided at an all-mailed ballot election is either one
location per city or one location per 100,000 residents,
whichever results in more drop-off locations, instead of one
location per city.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "In recent years, the
percentage of California voters who cast mail-in ballots has
increased dramatically, and it is especially great in special
elections. Last year more than 80% of voters cast their ballots
by mail in some cases. At the same time, these special
elections see abysmal turnout levels, at times dipping below 10%
of eligible voters. Research from the University of California
San Diego indicates that when special elections are conducted by
mail, turnout levels increase by close to eight percentage
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points in California. An increase of this magnitude could mean
nearly doubling turnout rates in some jurisdictions. In
addition, the policy has the potential to save taxpayer dollars
because mail-ballot elections typically cost much less than
traditional polling place elections.
"In 2011 the legislature authorized a pilot project to
examine the effects of vote-by-mail elections on turnout
levels in special elections. The project only applied to
one rural county, and it capped the number of mail-in
elections at three; it is set to expire in 2018?
"Because there are only two permissible all-mail special
election dates left under the pilot, the legislature should
expand the program to gather more data. In doing so, an
urban county should be included to contrast the rural
county that is already part of the program. San Mateo
County is a great candidate: it is an urban county and, as
a charter county, it already conducts some special
elections by mail, so an all-mail infrastructure is already
in place. By adding San Mateo County to the pilot, AB 2028
proposes a modest program expansion."
Under state law, any voter can request a vote by mail (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.
In 2011, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed AB 413
(Yamada), Chapter 187, Statutes of 2011, which created a pilot
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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
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.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
AB 2028
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Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0003327