An ‘urgent’ bill could change California voter rules just 4 weeks before election
California lawmakers are speeding a bill through the Legislature that could affect the way Californians vote as soon as next month’s presidential primary.
The proposal would allow voters to change their party preference or residence address within two weeks of election day without having to re-register to vote.
Senate Bill 207, sponsored by Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, cleared an Assembly floor vote Monday, 60-12, and is set to be re-considered soon by the Senate for a final vote before going to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Current law requires that voters submit a new affidavit of registration if they want to change their political party preference or address. Election officials must receive the affidavit no later than 15 days before an election, though they also accept conditional voter registration forms up to election day.
If signed by Newsom, SB 207 would immediately become law, meaning it would apply to the 2020 California primary election, as well as the 2020 general election in November.
Several California parties, including the Republican Party, have closed primaries, meaning you must be registered with the GOP in order to vote in their primary. Three parties, including the Democratic Party, allow crossover voting in the presidential primary.
County elections officials can provide a crossover ballot if requested.
Hurtado’s proposal contains language that is “substantively identical” to that in a bill Newsom vetoed last year, according to a Senate floor analysis.
“While I share the Legislature’s intent to reduce voter confusion, this bill may create a state reimbursable mandate with likely significant ongoing general fund costs to the state, thus it should be considered in the annual budget process,” Newsom wrote in his veto statement.
In a statement supporting the bill, Hurtado said, “In 2018, California piloted conditional voter registration and some polling places reported lines over five hours long as a result of the additional voters. Therefore, it is urgent to put a procedure in place to efficiently provide voters assistance this upcoming presidential primary.”
Hurtado said that SB 207 would streamline the process.
The bill is supported by the American Civil Liberty Union of California.
“This will help reduce wait times, the number of provisional ballots cast, and backlogs during the canvass period while maintaining safeguards to ensure accurate voter rolls,” the ACLU said in a statement supporting the bill.
The bill is opposed by the Peace and Freedom Party of California, which wrote, “SB 207 makes it much easier to change party registration just before a primary election and could have a significant effect of getting more people to register out of the Peace and Freedom Party (among other parties) in order to vote in a crowded Democratic presidential primary election.”
