Voting: ballots and signature verification.

(1) Existing law requires an elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to verify the signature on the identification envelope by comparing it with the signature on specified records within the voter's registration record. Existing law requires the elections official, if the signatures do not compare or if the voter fails to sign the identification envelope, to provide a voter the opportunity to verify the voter's signature by signing and returning a signature verification statement or an unsigned ballot statement, which the elections official will use instead to compare signatures. Existing law requires an elections official to use the same procedures for comparing signatures for provisional ballots that are used for comparing signatures for vote by mail ballots. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to promulgate guidelines for county elections officials relating to the foregoing provisions. This bill would (1) apply a presumption, for purposes of the comparison of signatures in the voter's registration record, that the signature on an identification envelope, signature verification statement, unsigned ballot statement, or provisional ballot envelope, is the voter's signature; (2) specify that an exact signature is not required for an elections official to determine that the signature is valid and the fact that signatures share similar characteristics is sufficient to determine the signature is valid; (3) permit a ballot to be rejected only if two officials determine beyond a reasonable doubt that a voter's signature differs in multiple, significant, and obvious respects from all signatures in the voter's registration record; (4) prohibit an elections official from reviewing or considering a voter's party preference, race, or ethnicity, when comparing signatures; and (5) require the elections official to send, on or before the next business day after determining that a voter's signature does not compare or is missing, except as specified, notice to the voter of the opportunity to verify or provide a signature and a postage-paid return envelope for the voter to return a signature verification statement or unsigned ballot statement. The bill would also require an elections official comparing signatures, including when the official uses signature verification software or other technology, to adhere to applicable regulations promulgated by the Secretary of State. (2) Existing law requires elections observers to be allowed sufficiently close access to enable them to observe the vote by mail ballot return envelopes and the signatures thereon and challenge whether those individuals handling vote by mail ballots are following established procedures, including verifying signatures and addresses on the vote by mail ballot return envelopes by comparing them to voter registration information. This bill would delete verifying addresses on the vote by mail ballot return envelopes from the procedures that the observers may observe and challenge. (3) Existing law requires an elections official to send specified information regarding the results of an election to the Secretary of State within 31 days of the election. This bill would require an elections official to identify and provide to the Secretary of State the number of ballots rejected, categorized according to the reason for the rejection. The bill would require the Secretary of State to provide uniform reason codes for each category of rejection to be used by elections officials, and would require a report containing this information for every election, including local special elections, to be published on the Secretary of State's internet website. (4) By imposing additional duties on county elections officials related to the conduct of elections, the bill 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 the statutory provisions noted above.