AB 860 — Elections: vote by mail ballots.

Summary

Under existing law, a registered voter may vote by mail by requesting a vote by mail ballot for a specific election or by becoming a permanent vote by mail voter. County elections officials must begin mailing ballots and other required materials to these voters no later than 29 days before the day of the election. Existing law, the California Voter's Choice Act, authorizes any county to conduct any election occurring on or after January 1, 2020, as an all-mailed ballot election if specified conditions are met. In an all-mailed ballot election held under the act, the county elections official must mail a ballot to every registered voter, regardless of whether the voter requested a vote by mail ballot or is a permanent vote by mail voter. This bill would require county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Existing law requires county elections officials to permit voters with a disability, and military or overseas voters, to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system. This bill would require county elections officials to permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to establish, by January 1, 2020, a system that a county elections official may use to allow a voter to track the voter's vote by mail ballot through the mail system and processing by the county elections official. County elections officials are not required to use the system, however. This bill would require county elections officials to use the Secretary of State's system, or a system that meets the same specifications, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Under existing law, a vote by mail ballot is timely cast if it is voted on or before election day and, if returned by mail, received by the voter's elections official via the United States Postal Service, or a bona fide private mail delivery company, no later than 3 days after election day. This bill would, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, extend the deadline by which vote by mail ballots must be received by the county elections official to the 17th day after election day. Under existing law, any jurisdiction having the necessary computer capability may start to process vote by mail ballots on the 10th business day before the election. This processing includes opening vote by mail ballot return envelopes, removing ballots, duplicating any damaged ballots, and preparing the ballots to be machine read, or machine reading them, including processing write-in votes so that they can be tallied by the machine, but under no circumstances may a vote count be accessed or released until 8 p.m. on the day of the election. This bill would authorize these jurisdictions, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, to begin processing vote by mail ballots on the 29th day before the election. By requiring county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter, and to take other actions expanding vote by mail voting, including making remote accessible voting available to all voters, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Bill Text

• Chaptered 06/18/20 - Chaptered Current pdf June 18, 2020
• Enrolled 06/18/20 - Enrolled pdf June 18, 2020
• Amended 06/04/20 - Amended Senate pdf June 04, 2020
• Amended 05/28/20 - Amended Senate pdf May 28, 2020
• Amended 04/24/20 - Amended Senate pdf April 24, 2020
• Introduced 02/20/19 - Introduced pdf February 20, 2019
• AB860 View text html

Action History

1. June 18, 2020

   Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 4, Statutes of 2020.

2. June 18, 2020

   Approved by the Governor.

3. June 18, 2020

   Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.

4. June 18, 2020

   Urgency clause adopted. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 68. Noes 5. Page 4915.).

5. June 16, 2020

   From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 16).

6. June 11, 2020

   Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2.

7. June 11, 2020

   In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

8. June 11, 2020

   Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 7. Page 3679.).

9. June 10, 2020

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

10. June 09, 2020

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 9).

11. June 04, 2020

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR.

12. June 02, 2020

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

13. May 28, 2020

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

14. May 28, 2020

    Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

15. May 11, 2020

    Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

16. May 11, 2020

    Withdrawn from committee.

17. April 24, 2020

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on G.O.

18. May 16, 2019

    Referred to Com. on G.O.

19. May 02, 2019

    In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

20. May 02, 2019

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1476.)

21. April 25, 2019

    Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.

22. April 24, 2019

    From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 24).

23. April 04, 2019

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (April 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

24. March 04, 2019

    Referred to Com. on G.O.

25. February 21, 2019

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.

26. February 20, 2019

    Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

• Marc Berman · Primary
• Thomas J. Umberg · Cosponsor
• Sabrina Cervantes · Cosponsor
• Hertzberg · Cosponsor
• Rebecca Bauer-Kahan · Cosponsor
• Tasha Boerner · Cosponsor
• Chiu · Cosponsor
• Friedman · Cosponsor
• Levine · Cosponsor
• Al Muratsuchi · Cosponsor
• Eloise Gómez Reyes · Cosponsor
• Robert Rivas · Cosponsor
• Santiago · Cosponsor
• Smith · Cosponsor
• Buffy Wicks · Cosponsor
• Henry I. Stern · Cosponsor
• Scott D. Wiener · Cosponsor
• Robert Garcia · Cosponsor
• Juan Carrillo · Cosponsor
• Mia Bonta · Cosponsor
• Jeff Gonzalez · Cosponsor

Votes

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