TITLE
Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution in support of SB 1050 (Bowen).
DISCUSSION
Current law provides that each voter is entitled to write the name of any candidate for
any public office on the ballot of any election; however, the ballot will only be counted if
the candidate is a "qualified" write-in candidate. Current law also provides that when
the name of the qualified write-in candidate is written in the write-in space provided on
the ballot, that the corresponding bubble must be marked. Ballots with the names in
the write-in space are inspected by hand to determine eligibility.
SB 1050 (Bowen) specifies that the requirement that the voting space be marked is "for
the convenience of the elections official counting the ballot" and that, if the name of a
qualified write-in candidate is written in the blank space provided, failure by a voter to
mark the voting space shall not preclude the voter's ballot from being counted if the
intent of the voter can be determined.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
This bill is currently in the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, and is
scheduled for hearing June 21,2005.
FISCAL IMPACT
[Fiscal Impact]
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
[Enter Body Here]
Respectfully Submitted,
[Respectfully Submitted,]