Senate Bill 450 would essentially shift the majority of California to the "Colorado Model” of voting. Under this model every registered voter would receive a ballot in the mail and then they would be able to cast the ballot through a variety of ways — mail, in-person at vote centers, or in drop boxes.
With many counties already majority vote-by-mail, Secretary of State Alex Padilla and many local elections officials support the legislation.
San Mateo (County Assessor, County Clerk, Recorder, Chief Election Official), Mark Church is supportive of the legislation and also supported AB 2028 that allowed San Mateo to conduct a three-year pilot program of conducting all local elections by mail.
“San Mateo County voters and the majority of California voters have increasingly used voting by mail as the primary method to cast their ballots,” Church said. “The potential benefits of all-mailed ballot elections include increased participation, increased efficiency, reduced costs, reduced risk of human error and earlier returns on election night. Those are the reasons I support all-mailed ballot elections.”
In Napa County, Registrar of Voters John Tuteur said that should the legislation win approval, the switch will be easy for his county because the county is currently approximately 88 percent vote-by-mail.
Unlike the Colorado law though, if approved, California counties would have the option of not participating in the program and could continue to function under the existing vote-by-mail, neighborhood polling place system.
For this to work, the focus needs to be on voter education and community outreach as many voters were completely unaware of the proposed legislation.
There are changes the officials would like to see before the legislation is approved. Some would like see a requirement that all return envelopes for the ballots to be postage prepaid; Some would like to see funding assistance to make the conversion to vote centers and vote-by-mail; and other noted that there are concerns about the vote centers.
Some very small counties are having some concerns about the currently discussed four vote center minimum.
While the elections officials are supportive of the legislation, the jury is still out with the voters we are not fully informed on the changes.
Some admitted they would miss the camaraderie of heading to the local elementary school on Election Day.
Even supportive elections officials admit there are some things they would miss about the current system including scenic polling places and poll workers.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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