Under existing law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration. Pursuant to the Student Voter Registration Act of 2003, the Secretary of State is required to annually provide every high school, community college, California State University, and University of California campus with voter registration forms. The act also requires every community college and California State University campus that operates an automated class registration system, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to permit students during the class registration process to apply to register to vote online by submitting an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State. The act encourages the University of California to comply with this provision.
This bill would require the California State
University and the California Community Colleges to implement a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who enrolls online at the institution to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State by July 1, 2018. The bill would encourage the University of California to comply with this provision. By requiring community colleges to provide a higher level of service, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law, the California New Motor Voter Program, requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to electronically provide to the Secretary of State the records of each person who submits an application for a driver’s license or identification card or who provides the department with a change of address. The person’s motor vehicle records will then constitute a completed affidavit of registration and the person will be registered to vote, except as specified.
This bill would require the Secretary of State, if he or she receives from the Department of Motor Vehicles the records of a person who is currently registered to vote, to use the information in the records to update the voter’s registration information. If the Secretary of State does not receive information for the voter for which space is provided on the affidavit of registration, but that information was provided in the voter’s previous affidavit of registration, this bill would require that the information from the voter’s previous affidavit of registration remain part of the voter’s record.
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.