Elections: voter registration.

(1) Existing law requires elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for each election. Existing law permits a person to apply for permanent vote by mail status while registering to vote, and requires elections officials to include an application for a vote by mail ballot with each voter information guide mailed to voters. This bill would repeal these provisions regarding applications to vote by mail to account for the requirement that every registered voter receive a vote by mail ballot for each election. (2) Existing law authorizes an individual who is eligible to register to vote to complete and deliver to a county elections official a conditional voter registration application that is deemed effective after the elections official determines the individual's eligibility to vote and validates the information on the application. Existing law authorizes a voter who has conditionally registered to cast a provisional or nonprovisional ballot during the 14 days immediately preceding an election or on the day of the election, as specified. Existing law authorizes military and overseas voters, as defined, to register for, and to vote a vote by mail ballot in, any election within the state or within the precinct in which the voter last resided within the territorial limits of the United States, as specified. This bill would clarify that otherwise qualified military and overseas voters and voters with disabilities may complete a conditional voter registration and cast a provisional ballot or nonprovisional ballot under these provisions. The bill would authorize the Secretary of State to adopt emergency regulations to implement provisions relating to conditional voter registration and would make related findings. (3) Existing law requires the clerk of the superior court of each county to periodically furnish the Secretary of State and the county elections official with certain information regarding persons who have been committed to state prison for a felony conviction. Existing law requires the Secretary of State or the county elections official to cancel the affidavit of voter registration of persons who are currently imprisoned for the conviction of a felony. This bill would repeal those provisions and instead require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, on a weekly basis, to provide the Secretary of State with specified identifying information for persons imprisoned for the conviction of a felony and persons on parole or otherwise released from that imprisonment. The bill would require the Secretary of State to compare the identifying information received from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation with the statewide voter registration database developed in compliance with the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, and to provide county elections officials with information regarding any matching registration records. The bill would require county elections officials to cancel the affidavits of voter registration of persons who are imprisoned and to notify persons who have been released from imprisonment that their voting rights are restored, that they may register to vote, and of the procedures for registering to vote. The bill would require the Secretary of State to prepare a form for county elections officials to provide this notice. The bill would immunize counties and county elections officials from liability based on actions taken in accordance with this bill based on erroneous information received from the Secretary of State or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The bill would create a presumption that a person who is ineligible to vote but receives a notice that their voting rights have been restored under these provisions, and then becomes registered or preregistered to vote and votes or attempts to vote in a subsequent election, is not guilty of fraudulently voting or attempting to vote, except as specified. (4) By increasing the duties of local officials on matters relating to voter registration, 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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.