Californians will be able to legally hand off their sealed ballot to anyone to mail or deliver in person under a new law signed Thursday.

Assembly Bill 1921, written by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), removes language in State Election law that limits the delivery of a voter's ballot to close family or household members.

It also repeals, starting in Local Elections in 2017 and the next Statewide Election in 2018, the current ban on a volunteer campaign worker from gathering as many ballots as possible from voters for delivery to Elections officials. The only restriction is that a Campaign official cannot be paid to gather and deliver ballots.

While other states also have more liberal laws on who can deliver a voter's ballot, those states usually place a limit on how many ballots can be delivered by a single person. The law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown places no such restrictions.

Supporters of the new law said that limits on who could deliver a voter's ballot were an unnecessary obstacle in an era when millions more Californians are choosing to cast their ballots by mail.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker