Vote by mail ballots: signature verification.

Existing law requires a county elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the voter's signature appearing on specified voter registration records. If the elections official determines that the signatures do not match, or if the identification envelope does not contain a signature, existing law requires the elections official to permit the voter to submit a signature verification statement or unsigned identification envelopment statement, respectively, that contains the voter's signature. Existing law requires instructions to be sent to the voter specifying that they may submit these statements by email, by facsimile transmission, or in person at a polling place within the county or a ballot dropoff box. This bill would additionally require the instructions sent to voters to state that they may submit a signature verification statement or unsigned identification envelope statement by other electronic means made available by the local elections official. This bill would require a local elections official who offers other electronic means for submission to establish appropriate privacy and security protocols so that the information transmitted is received by the elections official and is only used to verify the signature on the voter's ballot. By imposing duties on local elections officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3019 of the Elections Code proposed by SB 77 to be operative only if this bill and SB 77 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.