November 7, 2024
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Valerie Evans, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman,
PRESIDENT ELECT DONALD J. TRUMP
The United States voters have spoken!
Our congratulations and support for the future!
As of this writing the State races and Proposition outcomes have not been fully determined.
For up to the minute results visit: https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/
VOTING BILLS VETOED BY GOVERNOR NEWSOM
AB 544, Bryan. Voting pilot program: county jails.
Under existing law, a person is authorized to vote if that person is a United States citizen, a resident of California, at least 18 years of age, and not imprisoned for the conviction of a felony. Existing law further specifies conditions under which a person may register to vote, vote in person, vote by mail, vote a provisional ballot, and receive a replacement ballot.
This bill would, until January 1, 2030, require the Secretary of State to, upon appropriation of funds for this purpose, operate a pilot program to provide grants to county election offices in the County of San Benito, the County of San Mateo, and the County of Santa Cruz to improve voter participation in jail facilities, as defined.
The bill would require grantees to facilitate in-person voting for all eligible incarcerated persons. Participating counties would be required to meet specified requirements and permit any eligible incarcerated person to perform specified activities, including registering to vote and voting, returning a vote by mail ballot, voting a provisional ballot, and receiving a replacement ballot.
In the counties administering grants under these provisions, the bill would require the county sheriff or jail facility administrator to designate an employee as a voting coordinator at each facility who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with requirements pertaining to in-person voting for maintaining voter education materials in the jail library, and for posting informational flyers regarding voting rights and eligibility to vote, among other duties.
The bill would require the Secretary of State to prepare a related training for voting coordinators. The bill would require a local elections official receiving a grant to evaluate the program and report the results of the evaluation to the Secretary of State, as specified.
Newsom Veto: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AB-544-Veto-Message.pdf
AB 884, Low. Elections: language accessibility.
(1) Existing state and federal law, including the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, require the Secretary of State and county elections officials to provide language assistance to voters in order to access voting information, register to vote, and cast their votes at the polling place. Existing law requires a county elections official to provide a facsimile copy of the ballot with the ballot measures and ballot instructions printed in Spanish and other languages if the Secretary of State has determined that doing so is appropriate, as specified.
This bill would, by December 15, 2025, and by December 15 of every subsequent year following a presidential election, require the Secretary of State to determine the number of residents of voting age in each county and precinct who are members of a single language minority group and who lack sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance, as specified. The bill would require that, by that same date, the Secretary of State make publicly available on the Secretary of State’s internet website a list of languages used by single language minority groups, as specified.
Beginning January 1, 2028, this bill would further require the Secretary of State and county elections officials to provide specified materials in the language of the applicable language minority group as well as in the English language.
(2) Existing law requires the Secretary of State to make specified findings and determinations regarding the provision of ballot materials in languages other than English.
Until January 1, 2028, this bill would direct the Secretary to make those findings and determinations by December 15 of each year following a presidential election, and it would further limit the expansion of categories of covered languages for the purpose of providing facsimile ballots.
As of January 1, 2028, this bill would impose new requirements relating to translated ballots, including requiring the training of specified precinct board members. The bill would make conforming changes. By increasing the duties of county elections officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law requires the elections official to send a voter information guide that contains the written statement of each candidate. Existing law requires the elections official to provide a Spanish translation of the written statement to each candidate who wishes to have one and to select a person to provide the translation who is, among other things, a certified and registered interpreter on the judicial council master list or a current voting member in good standing of the American Translators Association.
This bill would add a language speaker with relevant experience in providing certified translations of legal documents who has been referred by a nonprofit agency to the list of eligible individuals that may provide the translation.
(4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3019 of the Elections Code proposed by AB 3184 to be operative only if this bill and AB 3184 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
The bill would incorporate changes to Section 4005 of the Elections Code proposed by SB 1450 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1450 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
Newsom veto: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AB-884-Veto-Message.pdf
VOTING BILLS THAT HAVE BEEN SIGNED INTO LAW
SB 1450, Allen. Elections.
Prior law, the California Voter’s Choice Act, required the Secretary of State to establish a taskforce that included certain individuals to review all-mailed ballot or vote center elections and to provide comments and recommendations to the Legislature within 6 months of each all-mailed ballot election or vote center election. The act was repealed by its own provisions on January 1, 2022.
This bill would reestablish this taskforce.
Existing law requires any county conducting an all-mailed ballot election to meet specified conditions, including that each vote center provide language assistance, that a county elections official establish a language accessibility advisory committee, and that the county elections official develop a draft plan for the administration of elections in consultation with the public.
Under existing law, a voter education and outreach plan is required to include at least two direct contacts with voters to inform them of the upcoming election and to promote the toll-free voter assistance hotline.
This bill would require each vote center to post information regarding the availability of language assistance services, including language assistance hotlines provided by the county or Secretary of State. The bill would require a language accessibility advisory committee and a voting accessibility advisory committee to hold their first meetings before a public meeting required as part of the development of a draft plan for the administration of elections, and it would also require a county elections official, in a county with more than 500,000 registered voters, to establish a voter education and outreach advisory committee.
The bill would repeal the requirement for a voter outreach and advisory committee on December 31, 2029. The bill would, after the first 6 statewide all-mailed ballot elections, authorize a county elections official to make only one direct contact with voters if the county elections official revises the plan for the administration of elections, as specified, and spends at least half the funds saved by not making a second direct contact on targeted outreach to historically underrepresented voters.
SB 1328, Bradford. Elections.
(1) Existing law generally requires electronic poll books, ballot manufacturers and finishers, ballot on demand systems, voting systems, and remote accessible vote by mail systems to be approved by the Secretary of State before their use in an election.
This bill would authorize the Secretary of State to impose additional conditions of approval for these purposes.
(2) Existing law requires a ballot card manufacturer, ballot card finisher, or ballot on demand system vendor to notify the Secretary of State and affected local elections officials in writing within 2 business days after discovering any flaw or defect that could adversely affect the future casting or tallying of votes.
This bill would instead require a ballot card manufacturer, ballot card finisher, or ballot on demand system vendor to provide that notice within 24 hours.
(3) Under existing law, specified election materials, including voted ballots, are required to be kept by county elections officials for 22 months for elections involving a federal office or for 6 months for all other elections. Existing law authorizes an elections official to open sealed ballot containers if it is necessary in a shredding or recycling process.
This bill would add paper cast vote records, voted conditional voter registration ballots, and conditional voter registration voter identification envelopes to the list of materials county elections officials are required to keep. The bill would also require county elections officials to keep certain electronic data for 22 months for elections involving a federal office or for 6 months for all other elections. By imposing additional duties on county elections officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would prohibit an elections official from opening sealed ballot containers unless it is necessary in a shredding or recycling process.
(4) Under existing law, it is a felony punishable by imprisonment for 2 to 4 years to interfere or attempt to interfere with the secrecy of voting or ballot tally software program source code or to knowingly, and without authorization, possess a key to a voting machine that has been adopted and will be used.
This bill would specify that, with respect to the secrecy of voting or ballot tally software program source code, the phrase “interferes or attempts to interfere with” includes knowingly, and without authorization, providing unauthorized access to, or breaking the chain of custody to, certified voting technology during the lifecycle of that certified voting technology, or any finished or unfinished ballot cards. The bill would also expand the crime of knowing and unauthorized possession of a key to a voting machine that has been adopted and will be used to include knowing and unauthorized possession of credentials, passwords, or access keys to a voting machine that has been adopted and will be used. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The bill would authorize the destruction or secure disposal of certified voting technology at the end of lifecycle with the written approval of the Secretary of State and the manufacturer. The bill would also require specified actions to be taken for any part or component of certified voting technology for which the chain of custody has been compromised or for which security has been breached or attempted to be breached, including that the technology be removed from service immediately.
(5) Existing law prohibits a voting system from being connected to the internet and from receiving or transmitting wireless communications or wireless data transfers.
This bill would prohibit establishing a network connection to any device not directly used and necessary for voting system functions and would prohibit communication by or with any component of the voting system by wireless or modem transmission. The bill would require a voting system to be used in a configuration of parallel central election management systems separated by an air-gap, as defined.
Legislative Portal links – Express your support or opposition to a bill or directly to the Legislative committee currently reviewing it (as an individual, not as a member of RW or GSRW) – click here, or the bill’s author – click here, enter your bill # and look for tab at top of the bill page labeled “Comments to Author”.
