Vote by mail ballots and election result statements.

(1) Existing law makes the vote by mail ballot available to any registered voter, including military or overseas voters. Existing law requires that those vote by mail ballots, including those vote by mail ballots cast by military or overseas voters, be received by the elections officials from whom they were obtained or by the precinct boards before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. Existing law authorizes certain local, special, or consolidated elections to be conducted wholly by mail, so long as specified conditions are satisfied. Existing law requires ballots cast in these vote by mail elections to be returned to the elections official from whom they were obtained no later than 8 p.m. on election day. This bill would, notwithstanding the above provisions, provide that any vote by mail ballot, including any vote by mail ballot cast by a military or overseas voter, is 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 no later than 3 days after election day, and either the ballot is postmarked on or before election day or is time stamped or date stamped by a bona fide private mail delivery company on or before election day or, if the ballot has no postmark, a postmark with no date, or an illegible postmark, the vote by mail ballot identification envelope is date stamped by the elections official upon receipt and is signed and dated by the voter on or before election day. Because the bill would expand the duties of local elections officials, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law permits any jurisdiction in which vote by mail ballots are cast to begin processing vote by mail ballot return envelopes 29 days prior to election, and authorizes any jurisdiction having the necessary computer capability to start processing vote by mail ballots 7 business days prior to the election. This bill would instead authorize any jurisdiction having the necessary computer capability to start processing vote by mail ballots 10 business days prior to the election. (3) Existing law requires the elections official to prepare a certified statement of the results of the election and submit it to the governing body within 28 days of the election, except for specified elections. This bill would instead require the elections official to submit the certified statement of the results of the election to the governing body within 30 days of the election. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 15101 of the Elections Code proposed by AB 2530, to be operative only if AB 2530 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. (5) 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.