Vote by mail ballots: processing.

Assembly Member Alanis anchors this measure in a shift of timing for vote-by-mail materials, authorizing elections officials to begin processing vote-by-mail ballot return envelopes and ballots on the date ballots are mailed rather than waiting up to 29 days before an election. The change sits alongside a continued rule that vote-by-mail counts may not be accessed or released until 8 p.m. on election day.

Processing provisions encompass the practical steps of handling mail ballots: verifying voter signatures on ballot return envelopes and updating voter history, opening envelopes, removing ballots, duplicating damaged ballots, and preparing ballots for machine reading, with the tally itself not disclosed until the close of polls that day. The measure also codifies that processing and counting of vote-by-mail ballots shall be open to the public both before and after the election. In tandem, the bill specifies who may observe and challenge the handling of ballots—from a county grand jury member to representatives of each major party central committee and any other party with a candidate on the ballot, as well as other interested organizations—and requires the elections official to provide at least 48 hours’ notice of the dates, times, and places where processing and counting will occur. Observers are constrained to not interfere with the processing, including the handling of ballots.

Two versions of the observer-related amendments maintain these public-access principles and broaden specific verification tasks. In one version, observers may verify signatures on envelopes, duplicate damaged ballots, and secure ballots to prevent tampering, with similar non-interference safeguards. A companion amendment adds a fourth verification item: confirming signatures on statements completed pursuant to the relevant provisions of the law. Both versions share the requirement that the processing and counting be observable in a manner that ensures transparency while preserving orderly procedures.

A coordinating provision ties the operative effect of these changes to enactment of a companion Senate measure, specifying that the amendments to openness and observer rights become operative only if both bills are enacted and take effect by an overarching date, with Section 2 superseded if the companion measure is enacted later. This arrangement indicates that the full package would implement only when both measures are enacted in a particular sequence and timeframe.

The proposal thus expands who may observe and when processing occurs, while preserving the existing on-election-day timing for final count announcements. It situates the changes within California’s Elections Code framework by describing observable processes before and after ballots are counted, and it situates implementation within a broader legislative structure that coordinates with a companion measure to determine operative timing.