California’s universal voting by mail becomes permanent

SACRAMENTO — California’s pandemic-inspired move toward mailing a ballot to every registered, active voter will become a permanent part of the state’s political landscape, an embrace of an extended and flexible voting process instead of the traditional focus on a single day of voting in person.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature Monday on Assembly Bill 37 makes California the eighth state in the nation with a law on the books requiring every voter to be mailed a ballot. The new law is part of an evolution of voting in the state over the last two decades, an effort to provide voters more options for when and where to cast their ballots.

“Data shows that sending everyone a ballot in the mail provides voters access. And when voters get ballots in the mail, they vote,” Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto), the bill’s author, said during a Senate committee hearing in July.

The law takes effect in January, providing a symbolic counterweight to a handful of other states where access to voting could be significantly curtailed before the 2022 election — a contrast Newsom highlighted in announcing his signature on the bill, and one likely to be echoed by Democrats across the country.

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AB 37 stipulates that ballots can’t be mailed to anyone on a county’s inactive voter list. Republican lawmakers sought additional rules for how counties should maintain their lists of active and inactive voters. They also demanded restrictions on who can turn in a voter’s ballot and wanted ballots postmarked by election day to count only if delivered within three days — a standard that used to exist in state law but expanded last year to seven days.

Democrats refused those efforts, and AB 37 was sent to Newsom after party-line votes in the Assembly and Senate.

The new law expands the use of ballot-tracking software made available by state elections officials. It also sets new requirements for counties to provide ballot drop boxes and ensures that the secure boxes are available for up to 28 days before election day.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-27/california-universal-voting-by-mail-becomes-permanent