CVF advocates on a select number of budget and policy issues via the California legislative process and also comments on regulations proposed by the California Secretary of State.
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In June 2023, CVF joined with Verified Voting Foundation, The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and California Common Cause in a letter providing written comments on draft Ballot Counting regulations proposed by the California Secretary of State. The four organizations' joint comments focus on including a definition for "chain of custody", the need to include ballot adjudication in the manual tally process, the importance of pubic access to the manual tally planning process and the ballot count cumulating process, the need for better tools to use when cumulating ballot counts, support for auditing the manual tally process, improvements to the random selection of precincts to verify software ballot tabulation, and support for public reporting of post-election audits.
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In February 2023, CVF joined with six other California nonprofit, nonpartisan voter advocacy groups urging Shasta County supervisors to reconsider their decision to terminate the county's voting system contract, warning it will harm the ability of voters to cast ballots in upcoming elections. The groups sent a second joint letter to Shasta supervisors in March explaining how computer technology is utilized to benefit the voting process and why relying solely on hand counts can produce inaccuracies and delay election results.
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In 2022, CVF along with the Brennan Center for Justice co-sponsored Senate Bill 1131, authored by State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), to protect California election workers’ security and safety by allowing them to enroll in address confidentiality programs. SB 1131 was signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 26, 2022 and included an urgency clause, so the protections went into effect immediately and before the November 2022 election. During the committee process, the scope of the bill was expanded to make address confidentiality programs accessible to any government employee in the State of California, not just election workers.
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In 2022, CVF joined with numerous other voter advocacy groups to back a proposal to include $85 million in California's 2022-23 state budget to fund voter education and outreach statewide and within all 58 counties to ensure all voters are informed of their ability to cast ballots in person and to combat harmful election mis- and disinformation. This proposal was advanced in the state legislature by co-champions Assembly Members Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Mike Fong and endorsed by over a dozen lawmakers but was not successful.
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In 2022, CVF and Verified Voting opposed Senate Bill 1480, authored by State Sen. Steve Glazer, unless amended to study, rather than open the door to implement, alternative ballot return methods for voters with print disabilities. CVF submitted a second Letter of Opposition to the Assembly Elections Committee, and California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber also opposed SB 1480, which died in the Assembly Elections Committee after the author pulled the bill from the committee's hearing agenda.
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CVF joined with Verified Voting and several other election security organizations in signing on to a Nov. 16, 2021 letter urging the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pause the City’s contracting process for an online, electronic ballot return project, to hold a public hearing on the project, and to consider initiating an investigation into the project.
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CVF provided testimony to the Little Hoover Commission for its October 28, 2021 hearing on California's Recall election process.
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CVF, ACLU California, League of Women Voters of CA, the Brennan Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Union of Concerned Scientists, NARAL, and the California League of Conservation voters joined together to support SB 503, authored by Sen. Josh Becker, to improve California's vote-by-mail and provisional ballot signature verification processes to protect voters and implement recommendations included in CVF's 2020 rejected ballots study, which Gov. Newsom signed into law in September 2021.
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CVF President Kim Alexander gave a presentation before the Alameda County Bar Association on June 29th, 2021 on the topic of Reforming the Electoral College by Expanding the House of Representatives, as part of the association's "Racial Equity Series – Deconstructing the Electoral College: Examining its History, Purposes, and Impact Today."
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CVF, ACLU California and several other voter advocacy groups sent a letter August 5, 2020 to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to provide input on draft ballot signature verification regulations (exhibit A).
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CVF and Verified Voting submitted a Letter of Concern to the Legislature regarding AB 860 and the need to strengthen technological components of California's November 2020 election plans.
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CVF supports AB 2400/Quirk which if enacted would facilitate risk-limiting audit pilots in California elections.
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CVF's March 27, 2020 memo to Secretary of State Alex Padilla providing Ten ideas for how California can address the coronavirus pandemic and conduct a secure and safe November 2020 election.
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CVF Letter of Support for SB 207/Hurtado, a 2020 bill to allow voters who are already registered in their county to update their address or political party preference by completing an affidavit instead of a conditional voter registration application.
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CVF Letter of Support for AB 681/Gonzalez, a 2019 bill to require county registrars to notify voters of their registered party preference and Presidential election voting choices in advance of the March 2020 Presidential Primary.
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CVF Letter of Support for SB 72/Umberg, a 2019 bill to require counties to provide voters with the ability to register or change their party preference on Election Day at all polling places statewide
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CVF Letter of Support for SB 523/McGuire - a 2019 bill to require counties to notify voters whose signatures are missing from vote-by-mail envelopes and provide them with the ability to submit a valid signature so their ballot is counted and not rejected.
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CVF Testimony, California Public Hearing on Voting System Decertification, March 19, 2019
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CVF Recommendations for Improving the Voter's Choice Act Model in Sacramento County
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CVF letter in support of SB 759, a new state law enacted in 2018 to require counties to contact voters with mismatched vote-by-mail ballot envelope signatures and provide an opportunity to submit a valid signature so their ballot will be counted and not rejected
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Joint "Oppose Unless Amended" letter on AB 2125 from CVF and other election security advocacy groups - CVF teamed up with several other organizations to successfully seek amendments to AB 2125, a law enacted in 2018 that allows counties as a 2020 pilot project to implement risk-limiting audits in place of the traditional one percent manual tally to verifiy election results. The amendments ensure that only voter-verified paper ballots or audit records will be used to conduct a risk-limiting audit, that all validly cast ballots be taken into account and that the public be able to verify, not merely observe, that the audit was properly conducted.
- Ten Tips for Registering Californians to Vote
- Election Funding and Governance Proposal
This proposal was developed by CVF in collaboration with representatives of the Future of California Elections (FoCE), the League of Women Voters, the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials, California Forward, the Secretary of State, California State Association of Counties, the Deparrtment of Finance and Verified Voting Foundation. It seeks to establish a funding formula in state law where the state pays 50 percent of counties' local election costs and counties provide greater consistency in voters' services statewide. Developed by the Election Funding Working Group formed by CVF and FoCE in 2016, this proposal was the result of a year-long effort undertaken by working group members. California Forward's 2016 study, Investing in California's Democracy: Building a Partnership for Performance was also an influential resource for this proposal.
Visit CVF's Advocacy and Testimony Archives page for a complete list of positions on legislation CVF has taken on California legislation since 2013.
