Voter registration: personal information.

(1) Existing law permits a citizen or organization to distribute voter registration cards anywhere in the applicable county. Existing law requires a county elections official to provide voter registration cards in sufficient quantities to any citizen or organization that wishes to distribute the cards, except as specified. If, after completing his or her voter registration affidavit, an elector entrusts it to another person, existing law requires the latter person to comply with specified requirements. This bill would require an individual or organization that distributes voter registration cards, a person entrusted with an affidavit of registration from an elector, or an individual or organization that assists with the submission of an affidavit of registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State to comply with specified requirements relating to the voter registration information. This bill would require an individual or organization that distributes voter registration cards to obtain the cards from the county elections official or the Secretary of State. This bill would require an individual or organization to comply with all applicable regulations established by the Secretary of State when distributing the cards. (2) Existing law provides that the driver's license number, identification card number, and social security number contained on an affidavit of registration are confidential and shall not be disclosed by an individual or organization that distributes voter registration cards or by a person entrusted with an affidavit of registration by an elector. This bill would provide that the signature contained on an affidavit is also confidential and shall not be disclosed. (3) The Student Voter Registration Act of 2003 requires the Secretary of State to annually provide every high school, community college, and California State University and University of California campus with voter registration forms. The act requires the number of forms provided to be consistent with the number of students enrolled at each school who are of voting age or will be of voting age by the end of the year. The act also requires every community college and California State University campus that operates an automated class registration system, or within two years of implementing such a system, to permit students, through an automated program in coordination with the Secretary of State, to elect to receive during the class registration process a voter registration form that is preprinted with personal information relevant to voter registration. The act encourages the University of California to comply with that provision. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the number of voter registration forms provided by the Secretary of State be consistent with the number of students enrolled at each school. This bill would require each community college and California State University campus that operates an automated class registration system, as specified, to permit students, during the class registration process, to apply to register to vote online by submitting an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State. This bill would encourage the University of California to comply with these provisions. This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature that every eligible high school and college student receive a meaningful opportunity to apply to register to vote. (4) Existing law permits a county elections official to provide affidavits of registration and voter registration cards online, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with county elections officials, to design and make available on his or her Internet Web site an affidavit of registration that meets specified requirements. Existing law requires affidavits of registration that are made available on the Internet Web site of a county or of the Secretary of State to be available for individual use only and not for use by organizations seeking to register people to vote. This bill would delete these provisions. This bill instead would prohibit an affidavit of registration from being submitted electronically on a county's Internet Web site, but would permit a county to provide a hyperlink on the county's Internet Web site to the Secretary of State's electronic voter registration system. (5) Existing law requires a person, company, or other organization that agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a person who assists another person to register to vote by receiving the completed affidavit of registration to comply with specified conditions, including maintaining a list certain compensation-related information. Existing law makes violation of this provision a misdemeanor. This bill would require a person, company, or other organization that agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a person who assists another person to register to vote by assisting with the submission of an affidavit of registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State to comply with those specified conditions. This bill would make a violation of this provision a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person in possession of voter registration information obtained pursuant to specified provisions of law knowingly to use or permit the use of all or any part of that information for any purpose other than as permitted by law. This bill would make this provision applicable to a person in possession of voter registration information identified in a specified provision of law. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (7) Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person knowingly to acquire possession or use of voter registration information obtained pursuant to specified provisions of law without first complying with specified application requirements. This bill would instead make it a misdemeanor for a person knowingly to acquire possession of or use voter registration information obtained from the Secretary of State or a county elections official without first complying with specified application requirements. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) Under existing law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration. Existing law requires the affidavit of registration to show specified information concerning the affiant. Existing law provides for an affidavit of registration to be included on a multipart card, to be known as a voter registration card. Existing law imposes specified requirements on voter registration cards. Existing law, operative when the Secretary of State certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that complies with the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 or executes a declaration stating that certain conditions have occurred, authorizes a person to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State. This bill would make specified requirements imposed on voter registration cards relating to affidavit of registration information applicable to all affidavits of registration. (9) 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.