Existing law requires the Secretary of State to prepare and distribute to appropriate elections officials a uniform application and uniform electronic application format for a vote by mail voter's ballot that conforms to specified requirements. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to establish a free access system that permits any voter who casts a provisional ballot to discover whether the voter's provisional ballot was counted and if not, the reason why it was not counted. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to ensure the uniform application of statutory provisions regarding provisional voting.
California AB 1970 (20152016) — Elections: vote by mail and provisional ballots.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State to prepare and distribute to appropriate elections officials a uniform application and uniform electronic application format for a vote by mail voter's ballot that conforms to specified requirements. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to establish a free access system that permits any voter who casts a provisional ballot to discover whether the voter's provisional ballot was counted and if not, the reason why it was not counted. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to ensure the uniform application of statutory provisions regarding provisional voting.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 4–1 (pass) · upper
3rd Reading AB1970 Low By Allen — 25–13 (pass) · upper
Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
Do pass — 5–2 (pass) · upper
AB 1970 LOW Assembly Third Reading — 52–26 (pass) · lower
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 6–1 (pass) · lower
Sponsors
Low — primary (person)
Mullin — coauthor (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
2016-02-16 Read first time. To print. reading-1
2016-02-17 From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
2016-02-25 Referred to Com. on E. & R. referral-committee
2016-03-30 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (March 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
2016-04-13 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 6.) (April 13). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
2016-04-14 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
2016-04-21 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 52. Noes 26. Page 4466.) reading-3, passage, reading-1
2016-04-21 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
2016-05-05 Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. referral-committee
2016-06-22 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
2016-08-01 In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. referral-committee
2016-08-11 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
2016-08-15 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
2016-08-17 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 25. Noes 13. Page 5062.). reading-3, passage, reading-1
2016-08-17 In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. committee-passage
2016-08-23 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
2016-09-29 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2016-09-29 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 821, Statutes of 2016.
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/ec9a3b58-d983-4bdd-b13b-7d2bbb0017c9. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).