September 9, 2009 - Yolo might test an all-mail election

Paper: Davis Enterprise, The (CA)
Title: Yolo might test an all-mail election
Date: September 9, 2009
Author: Enterprise staff

A bill that would allow Yolo County to conduct all-mail elections as a pilot project has reached the governor's desk.

AB 1228, authored by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, gives California the opportunity to gather information on all-mail elections through the pilot project in Yolo and Santa Clara counties. Amendments added in the state Senate were approved Tuesday on the Assembly floor, and the bill is now awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature.

"The data that can be gathered from this pilot project will provide useful information to determine if all-mail voting is in California's future," Yamada said in a news release. "Streamlining the voting process and reducing costs to local governments is important in these tough budget times."

AB 1228 will allow for up to three local elections to be conducted using mail ballots as the primary voting system. These elections would not be held on the same date as general or statewide elections and would have a limited number of polling places open to accommodate those who are unable or prefer not to vote using a mailed ballot.

The ballots would have prepaid postage.

AB 1228 requires that the counties report the outcomes of the all-mail ballot elections to the Legislature and the California secretary of state within six months. The report would include statistics on the cost, voter turnout, the number of ballots that were not counted and the reasons they were rejected, any voter fraud problems and any other problems encountered.

The report also would compare the success of the all-mail-ballot election to similar standard elections.

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