AB 1116: Elections: voter registration.

Existing law authorizes a person who is qualified to register to vote and who has a valid California drivers license or state identification card to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Secretary of States internet website. Existing law requires this affidavit to contain a statement that the county elections official must compare the affiants signature on the identification envelope for the return of a vote by mail ballot with the signatures appearing in the voters registration record, including the signature appearing on the applicants drivers license or state identification card. The Secretary of State must require a person who submits such an affidavit to submit, among other things, the number from their California drivers license or state identification card.

This bill would additionally authorize a person who is qualified to register to vote to submit an affidavit of voter registration on the Secretary of States internet website even if the person has not been issued a California drivers license or state identification card, as long as the person provides the last four digits of their social security number with their affidavit. The bill would require the Secretary of State to develop a process to allow such an applicant to electronically upload a high-quality digitized image of the applicants signature through the electronic voter registration system, and would require this signature upload process method to collect an electronic image of the applicants signature, and would require this collection method to be accessible to people with disabilities. The bill would additionally authorize a county elections official to compare the affiants signature on the identification envelope for the return of a vote by mail ballot with this digitized electronic image of the affiants signature. The bill would authorize the Secretary of State to authenticate the identity of an applicant who electronically submits an affidavit of voter registration without providing a California drivers license or state identification card by verifying the last 4 digits of the applicants social security number, the applicants full name, and the applicants date of birth. The bill would specify that its provisions become operative on the earlier of (1) January 1, 2027, or (2) five days after the date on which the Secretary of State certifies that information technology infrastructure necessary to implement its provisions is functional. September 1, 2027.