No Centralized Voter Registration Database

Whereas, California is the only state in the nation that does not have a centralized voter registration database (VoteCal) as required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), thereby preventing the accurate, comprehensive, and timely maintenance of California’s voter rolls, and

Whereas, according to the California Secretary of State’s website, in March 2013, the California Secretary of State awarded a no-bid contract to build VoteCal to CGI Technologies and Solutions, an affiliate of CGI Federal, which is the company that built the failed ObamaCare website, and

Election Integrity Project Documents Numerous Violations of Election Laws

Whereas, the Election Integrity Project (EIP)[i] is a non-partisan citizen volunteer organization advocating for fair and honest elections in California, and

Whereas, according to the EIP Report (defined below), on November 6, 2012, EIP deployed 2,100 EIP-trained poll observers in over 650 precincts in the following 21 California counties:  Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Orange, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Kern, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Monterey, Placer, Shasta, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Solano, Tulare and Nevada, and

Whereas, EIP’s poll observers on November 6, 2012 submitted reports documenting more than 1,740 violations of the California Elections Code by poll workers, and

Whereas, EIP published its final report (Election Day Observations: California Poll Observer Report for the November 6, 2012 Presidential Election), documenting the California Elections Code violations reported by EIP poll observers on November 6, 2012 (the “EIP Report”), and

Poll Workers Not Complying with California Elections Code

Whereas, according to the EIP Report, many counties of California are not sufficiently training their poll workers to properly follow even the most critical sections of the California Elections Code necessary to ensure the most basic standards for voting integrity, and

Whereas, California Elections Code §14216, which requires voters to state their name and address audibly to the precinct officer and write their name and address on the voter roster prior to receiving a ballot, is the only California law that helps prevent voter impersonation, and

Whereas, the EIP Report states that EIP poll observers witnessed at least 333 poll worker violations of California Elections Code §14216 on November 6, 2012, making it the most reported violation of the California Elections Code on that particular election day, and

Whereas, the EIP Report states that Los Angeles County and San Diego County pre-print the voter addresses on the voter roster in violation of the law, making it even easier to commit voter impersonation, and

Duplicate Voter Registrations

Whereas, EIP analyzed the voter rolls in ten geographically dispersed counties of California (representing 55% of the total registered voters in California) and reported to each county’s Registrar of Voters and the California Secretary of State that (1) at least 56,330 people in those ten counties are registered to vote more than once (i.e., the same person is registered more than once at the same address, at different addresses in the same county, or in multiple counties) and (2) some of those duplicate voters are registered to vote more than five times, and

Whereas, EIP analyzed the voter rolls in Los Angeles County and reported to the Los Angeles County Registrar, Dean Logan, that (1) 37,675 people in Los Angeles County appear to be registered to vote more than once in the county and (2) 5,330 registered voters in Los Angeles County also appear to be registered to vote in San Diego County, and

Whereas, EIP analyzed the online registrations of voters before the November 6, 2012 election in ten geographically dispersed counties of California and found that (1) 6,080 voters were permitted to register online even though they were already registered to vote in California and (2) 113 of these voters appear to have voted more than once on November 6, 2012, and

Duplicate Voting

Whereas, EIP analyzed the 2008-2012 voting records of voters in ten geographically dispersed counties of California and found that 2,202 registered voters appear to have voted more than once in a given election during that period, and

Whereas, EIP analyzed the 2008-2012 voting records of voters in Los Angeles County and reported to the Los Angeles County Registrar, Dean Logan, that 1,433 registered voters appear to have voted more than once in a given election during that period, and

Failure to Remove Dead Voters from Voter Rolls

Whereas, EIP analyzed the voter rolls in ten geographically dispersed counties of California (representing 55% of the total registered voters in California) and reported to each county’s Registrar of Voters and to the California Secretary of State that (1) 18,045 registered voters in such counties appear to be deceased but have not been removed from the voter rolls and (2) 1,072 of those deceased voters appear to have cast a ballot in a given election between 2008-2012 after their date of death, and

Whereas, EIP analyzed the voter rolls in Los Angeles County and reported to the Los Angeles County Registrar, Dean Logan, that (1) 14,958 registered voters in Los Angeles County appear to be deceased but have not been removed from the voter rolls and (2) 956 of these deceased voters appear to have cast a ballot in a given election between 2008-2012 after their date of death, and

Inability to Challenge Signature Matches on Ballots

Whereas, approximately half of Californians vote by mail, and a signature match is the only way to verify the identity of a vote-by-mail voter, and

Whereas, under Election Code §15104, poll observers are not permitted to challenge signature match decisions of election clerks, and

Whereas, on June 27 2013, Governor Brown signed AB 110, suspending the California Elections Code requirement that signatures on provisional ballot envelopes be compared against voter affidavits to confirm that the person submitting the provisional ballot is in fact eligible to vote, and

Whereas, in a memo to all California County Clerks and Registrars of Voters, dated July 31, 2013, the Chief Counsel to the California Secretary of State noted that the suspension of the requirement to check provisional ballot signatures “remov[ed] a critical method to prevent voter fraud.”  

California Secretary of State is Not Doing Its Job

Whereas, according to the California Secretary of State’s November 6, 2012 General Election Report (the “SOS Report”), more than 13.1 million ballots were cast in California on November 6, 2012 in almost 25,000 precincts worked by over 100,000 poll workers, and

Whereas, the SOS Report states that the California Secretary of State sent a total of eight poll observers to seven different counties to observe the polls on November 6, 2012, while EIP deployed more than 2,100 poll observers in over 650 precincts in 21 California counties for the same election, and

Whereas, despite EIP poll observer reports documenting 1,740 violations of the California Elections Code by poll workers on November 6, 2012, the SOS Report stated that “SOS observers reported only a few problems encountered by voters and poll workers on Election Day,” and

Whereas, according to an EIP press release, dated December 10, 2013, EIP representatives met with Deputy Secretary of State Evan Goldberg and Chief Counsel Lowell Finley, and (1) Mr. Finley incorrectly claimed that the California Secretary of State does not have the authority to police the conduct of county election officers and (2) Mr. Finley and Mr. Goldberg stated that they have no intention of ensuring that the counties remedy their violations of the California Elections Code.

Statement of Principle

Whereas, the integrity of the ballot must be safeguarded so that the voices of lawful voters are not diluted or disenfranchised, and a law that requires voters to identify themselves as registered voters will significantly reduce the opportunities for, and actual instances of, voter fraud.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, by the California Republican Party at its convention beginning on March 14, 2014 in Burlingame, California that the Republican Party urges state legislators  to enact a law that would (1) require voters who apply to vote by mail to provide a photocopy of an approved form of photo identification; (2) require voters who wish to vote at the polls to show photo identification in order to receive a ballot; (3) require voters who vote by mail to identify themselves by providing the last four digits of their California driver’s license, California ID card, or social security number; and (4) require the DMV to offer free identification cards to individuals who do not have drivers licenses but who wish to vote. 

Further Resolved, that the California Republican Party send this resolution to all elected officials registered as Republicans in the State of California, both partisan and non-partisan.

Submitted by

Ron Robinson, Alhambra, CA            
California Republican Party Delegate