Voter registration: incomplete affidavits: rebuttable presumptions.

Under existing law, when a county elections official receives an affidavit of voter registration that does not include all required information, but the telephone number of the affiant is legibly included, that official is required to telephone the affiant to collect the missing information. This bill would alternatively permit the county elections official to contact the affiant by e-mail, if the e-mail address is legibly provided on the affidavit. Additionally, under existing law, when a county elections official receives an affidavit of voter registration that does not include portions of information for which space is provided, the county elections official is required to apply several rebuttable presumptions. Those presumptions include a presumption that if the affiant fails to list a middle name or initial then no middle name exists, and if the affiant fails to list a state of birth within the United States then it is presumed that the place of birth is in the United States if the affiant lists his or her birthplace as the United States, U.S.A., or other recognizable term designating the United States. This bill would provide that if an affiant fails to identify his or her place of birth, the county elections official shall apply a rebuttable presumption that the affiant is eligible to register to vote if the affiant marked the box on the affidavit of registration, executed under penalty of perjury, that the affiant is a citizen of the United States.