What’s Coming In California’s Elections? October 9, 2016 Take Back The Vote Conference

About Jim Author: CountedAsCast.org and CountedAsCast.com Co-chair: Voting Rights Task Force Member: San Francisco Voting Systems Task Force Senior software consultant & mobile app developer JimSoper2@gmail.com

Outline New election systems SB 450 AB 1970 (regulations) Lobbying in Sacramento Possible new laws in California

countedascast.org/election-systems-2016/open-source-election-systems/ New Election Systems Los Angeles (vsap.lavote.net) by 2018 San Francisco (seeking a project manager) Star-Vote, Travis County, TX (Austin) Galois.com OSET Foundation.org PrimeVotingSystem.org (Univ. of Florida) countedascast.org/election-systems-2016/open-source-election-systems/

Ballot Printing Device (BPD) You vote on a (touchscreen) computer. It prints a list of contests, and who you voted for.

LA’s New Voting Station (2018) Ballot Printing Device (BPD) with printer and QR Code reader

QR Code Scanner The voter prepares their ballot on a mobile device at home, then shows the QR Code to the voting station, which displays the choices on the screen to the left. The voter may make any changes on the screen. They then print the ballot out for review and casting.

The QR Code will contain the votes read by the central scanner LA Ballot (Prototype) The QR Code will contain the votes read by the central scanner

10 Minute Video “The New LA Voting System Prototype” by Mimi Kennedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qafBDXjGxU

(but were afraid to ask…) New California Laws (but were afraid to ask…)

LegInfo.legislature.ca.gov

California Elections Code http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml

California Testing SB 360 (Sen. Padilla, 2013) California does its own testing of election systems, bypassing Election Assistance Commission (EAC) testing California testing regulations include red-team (hack) testing, and Has better provisions for the disabled

SB 450 (2016) Senator Ben Allen http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB450 https://countedascast.org/sb-450-2016/

SB 450: County Opt-In Opt-in means not a mandate -> counties pay 2018: 14 counties: Calaveras, Inyo, Madera, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sierra, Sutter, and Tuolumne 2020: any county LA has own rules for 2020 [§4007]

SB 450: Vote by Mail (VbM) IF they have: VbM ballots can be sent to everybody IF they have: dropoff locations [§4005 (a)(1)] 1 location/15,000 registered voters (min. 2) 28 days before election vote centers [4005 (a)(2,3)]

Vote Centers: Days -10 thru -4 1 vote center/50,000 registered voters  minimum of two vote centers in jurisdiction

Vote Centers: Days -3 thru E-Day 1 center/10,000 registered voters  minimum of two vote centers in jurisdiction

Same-Day Registration §4005 (a)(2)(A)(ii) “Register to vote, update his or her voter registration, and vote pursuant to Section 2170” See also: §4005 (a)(4)(E)(i), and §4005 (a)(7)(A) Big issue: In-person ballot, including provisional, should override a VbM ballot.

Public Plans by COUNTY § 4005 (a)(10)(B): “The county elections official, when developing the draft plan for the administration of elections conducted pursuant to this section, considers, at a minimum, all of the following”: proximity to (low-income) communities, population centers, public transportation, traffic patterns, etc… § 4005 (a)(10)(C): “public comments on the draft plan for at least 14 days “ § 4005 (a)(10)(D)(i) : public hearing § 4005 (a)(10)(E)(ii) : SoS approval

ESL & Disability Plans & Meetings §005 (10) (A) The county elections official develops a draft plan for the administration of elections conducted pursuant to this section in consultation with the public, including both of the following: (i) One meeting … language other than English (ii) One meeting ... individuals with disabilities.

County Groups Take Note! The plans are made by county, with hearings! With SB 450, precinct-based polling places will disappear! HCPB in precincts will disappear. If that is an issue for you, you need to stop your county from opting-in. No, I do not know yet how they will conduct the manual tally of 1% of precincts. I hope it will be something reasonable. Risk-limiting audits are a good alternative.

SB 450: VbM Notice §4006:  an official shall make a reasonable effort to inform a voter of either: (a) If the voter’s vote by mail ballot envelope is missing a signature. (b) How the voter can correct the missing signature. See also AB 2089: required notification within 30 days if VbM not counted. Vetoed! This is not enough!!!

Primaries & Crossover Ballots Division 6 of Elections Code – to be modified(?)

AB 1970 (Asm. Low, 2016) §3026: The Secretary of State shall promulgate regulations establishing guidelines for county elections officials relating to the processing of vote by mail ballots §14314: The Secretary of State shall promulgate regulations establishing guidelines for county elections officials relating to the processing of provisional ballots.

Padilla: Sept 15, 2016 Conclusion: Any interpretation of Section 15360 that requires inclusion of provisional ballots and the inclusion of all voted vote-by-mail ballots will very likely lead to a realization of the concerns raised by counties during the 2006 legislative process. In addition, Section 15360(d) requires at least a five-day public notice prior to the commencement of the one percent manual tally. As provisional ballots are typically processed at the end of the canvass process, if provisional ballots were required to be in the one percent manual tally, for some counties the five-day public notice could delay the canvass and the certification of election results beyond the deadlines set forth in the Elections Code. Therefore, the Secretary of State’s position is that neither provisional ballots nor all vote-by-mail ballots are required to be included in the one percent manual tally. http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//ccrov/pdf/2016/september/16295sr.pdf http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//ccrov/pdf/2016/september/16295sr.pdf

San Diego Trial (Lutz) A court may decide that VbM and provisional ballots must be included in the 1% manual tally.

AB 1921 (VbM) Unlimited “ballot harvesting”. Anybody can deliver truckloads of VbM ballots no questions asked no records kept Our best allies were republicans. Signed by governor Brown. 