Bill Text: CA AB37 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Elections: vote by mail ballots.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)
Status: (Passed) 2021-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 312, Statutes of 2021. [AB37 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB37-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Senate
July 14, 2021 |
Amended
IN
Senate
July 01, 2021 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 07, 2021 |
Introduced by Assembly Members Berman, Cervantes, and Lorena Gonzalez (Principal coauthors: Senators Umberg and Allen) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Quirk, Bennett, Kalra, Mayes, and Mullin) (Coauthor: Senator Newman) |
December 07, 2020 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 3000.5 of the Elections Code is amended to read:3000.5.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, for each election, the elections official shall, no later than 29 days before the day of the election, begin mailing the materials specified in Section 3010 to every registered voter. The elections official shall have five days to mail a ballot to each person who is registered to vote on the 29th day before the day of the election and five days to mail a ballot to each person who is subsequently registered to vote. The elections official shall not discriminate against any region or precinct in choosing which ballots to mail first within the prescribed five-day mailing period.SEC. 2.
Section 3016.5 of the Elections Code is repealed.SEC. 3.
Section 3016.7 of the Elections Code is amended to read:3016.7.
The county elections official shall permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system, regardless of whether the voter is a voter with disabilities or a military or overseas voter.SEC. 4.
Section 3019.7 of the Elections Code is amended to read:3019.7.
(a) The Secretary of State shall maintain a system to allow a vote by mail voter to track the voter’s vote by mail ballot through the mail system and as the vote by mail ballot is processed by the county elections official. A county elections official shall use this system unless the county makes available to voters a different vote by mail ballot tracking system that meets or exceeds the level of service provided by the Secretary of State’s system. The system shall, at a minimum, be accessible to voters with disabilities and allow a voter to register to receive information via email or text message from the county elections official about the status of the voter’s vote by mail ballot, including all of the following information:SEC. 5.
Section 3020 of the Elections Code is amended to read:3020.
(a) All vote by mail ballots cast under this division shall be received by the elections official from whom they were obtained or by the precinct board no later than the close of the polls on election day.(d)Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), for the statewide general election to be held on November 3, 2020, any vote by mail ballot cast under this division shall be timely cast if it is received by the voter’s elections official via the United States Postal Service or a bona fide private mail delivery company by the 17th day after election day and either of the following is satisfied:
(1)The ballot is postmarked on or before election day, is time stamped or date stamped by a bona fide private mail delivery company
on or before election day, or it is otherwise indicated by the United States Postal Service or a bona fide private mail delivery company that the ballot was mailed on or before election day.
(2)If the ballot has no postmark, a postmark with no date, or an illegible postmark, and no other information is available from the United States Postal Service or the bona fide private mail delivery company to indicate the date on which the ballot was mailed, the vote by mail ballot identification envelope is date stamped by the elections official upon receipt of the vote by mail ballot from the United States Postal Service or a bona fide private mail delivery company, and is signed and dated pursuant to Section 3011 on or before election day.