BILL NUMBER: AB 1440CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 395 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2009 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 11, 2009 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2009 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Swanson FEBRUARY 27, 2009 An act to add Section 14313 to the Elections Code, relating to elections. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1440, Swanson. Elections: provisional ballots. Existing law requires that a provisional ballot be issued to a voter claiming to be properly registered but whose qualification or entitlement to vote cannot be immediately established upon examination of the index of registration or records on file with the county elections official. This bill would require a county elections official to issue a provisional ballot, including any materials necessary to process the ballot, to an emergency worker, as defined. The bill would require the county elections official to transmit the ballot to the county where the voter is registered and would specify requirements for the ballot to be counted and the ballot materials to be preserved. Because the bill would increase duties of local elections officials, it 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 these statutory provisions. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 14313 is added to the Elections Code, to read: 14313. (a) Upon the declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor and the issuance of an executive order authorizing an emergency worker to cast a ballot outside of his or her home precinct, elections officials in the counties included in the executive order shall, upon demand, issue to an emergency worker a provisional ballot that may be identical to the provisional ballot offered to other voters in the county, using a process to be determined by the elections official. The elections official shall transmit for processing any ballot cast, including any materials necessary to process the ballot, pursuant to this section to the elections official in the county where the voter is registered to vote. (b) To be counted, a ballot cast pursuant to this section shall satisfy both of the following requirements: (1) Be cast by the voter no later than the close of the polls on election day. (2) Be received by the county elections official where the voter is registered on or before the 10th day following the date of the election. (c) Upon receipt of the returned ballot, the elections official shall process the ballot pursuant to the procedures in subdivision (c) of Section 14310. (d) If the requirements in subdivisions (b) and (c) are met and the ballot is eligible to be counted, the ballot shall be duplicated and all other materials preserved according to the procedures set forth in this code. (e) "Emergency worker" for the purposes of this section means a person who is officially engaged in responding to the proclaimed state of emergency and whose vocation has been identified in an executive order relating to the state of emergency. SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.