Bill to Make Recount Elections More Expensive Awaits First Senate Committee

A bill that would make election recounts more expensive, as well extend the the number of days after an election that ballots can still be received, inched closer to their first Senate Committee this week.

Assembly Bill 930, authored by Assemblyman Chris Ward (D-San Diego), would specifically allow a voter requesting a recount to specify the order in which votes are recounted by the batch in which ballots were scanned or, in the case of a recount that involves more than one county, the order in which counties will conduct the recount within the jurisdiction. In addition, AB 930 would prohibit unauthorized access to the voting system in use by the elections office and impose other protections on access to a voter’s personal identifying information, as well as require the requester to reimburse the county for the cost of each member of a recount board, and would set qualifications for an official appointed to supervise a special recount board.

The bill would also impose specified requirements for notices issued by elections officials. If the recount is to be conducted manually and the voting system has the capability to display ballot images, AB 930 require the voter requesting the recount to select whether the recount will be conducted by use of paper ballots or the official ballot images. If more than one voter requests a recount for the same office or measure and at least one request is for the recount to be conducted by use of paper ballots, the bill would require the county elections official to conduct only a manual recount of the paper ballots, the result of which would be controlling.

Finally, AB 930 would extend the deadline for ballots cast in all-mailed ballot elections being considered timely cast if they are received by the voter’s election official by mail from no later than 3 days after election day to 7 days after election day.

Assemblyman Ward wrote the bill to help make recounts more cost-effective, as well as modernize election processes and clarify existing election law. However, Ward also amended AB 930 earlier this year, removing the provision that imposes filing fees on certain write-in candidates. While the fees would have helped discourage political campaigns trying to avoid paying regular filing fees by going write-in, that part received backlash, leading to Ward removing it.

More controversial was the proposed Election Code change. As the bill said that recount boards would have “four individuals” rather than “four voters”, Republicans quickly challenged that the bill could allow illegal immigrants into the recounting process.

Issues with AB 930

“Democrats are claiming AB 930 doesn’t allow noncitizens to count ballots– but we have proof in plain English from bill itself. It inserts word ‘individuals’ where words ‘voters of the county’ used to be – eliminating citizenship as factor for appointees of recount boards,” said Assemblyman Carl DeMaio on X last month.

The statement rattled supporters who quickly charged in to both defend the bill and get clarification from the government that illegal immigrants would not be allowed to overseen recount elections. A letter from the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO) helped clarify the matter saying that while recount officials could not be illegal immigrants, others involved in the process could potentially be.

“AB 930 does not allow undocumented immigrants to sit on recount boards,” confirmed the CACEO earlier this week. “However, it is possible that separately a documented non-citizen could be hired for other election-related work. Counties cannot hire an undocumented immigrant for a county extra help position, as all such employees must be legally cleared to work. Additionally, counties maintain personnel records necessary to comply with federal immigration laws; however, these records are exempt from disclosure.

“Moreover, if AB 930 becomes law, the people serving on a recount board tallying ballots and those supervising the recount boards would have to be a registered voter.”

While it is possible for an illegal immigrant to get some sort of entry level position in recounting elections, they would need to essentially lie and have fake documents good enough to get past many state and federal checks.

“If AB 930 is enacted, only registered voters can serve on recount boards that are tallying ballots or supervising the process, per existing California Elections Code §12302,” added Anthony Reyes, as Legislative Assistant to Ward. “In other words, non-citizens—documented or undocumented—are prohibited from performing duties related to vote tallying or supervising recounts.”

With that issue more or less settled for now, opponents have gone after other parts of the bill, like criticizing the extended ballot acceptance times for write-in votes and the higher cost of recount elections as a result.

Despite this, the bill moved up in the Assembly, but by margins the did not spark confidence in supporters, as even some Democrats began to withdraw support. In the Assembly vote last month, it only passed 59-16 with 4 non-voting, boding for a likely tighter Senate vote in the coming months as criticism continues to come in.

More challenges against the bill are expected in the coming weeks as AB 930 is set to go before the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.