republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-2218.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vote by mail ballot tracking."
description: "Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be made available to any registered voter. Existing law requires a county elections official to establish a free access system that allows a vote by mail voter to learn if his or her vote by mail ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why the ballot was not counted. Existing federal law, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) , provides federal funding for states to carry out specified activities, such as improving voting systems and technology and methods for casting and counting votes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 2218"
citation: "California AB 2218 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vote by mail ballot tracking."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Berman"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-02-12"
last_action: "2018-09-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/10c060f6-aa47-4bd5-854b-c47f482837ce"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2218"
source_hash: "e849765ee4a2c1116904754cb8fbc9763585636c9b2f1082d7af27d1b572d418"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 2218 (20172018) — Vote by mail ballot tracking.

Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be made available to any registered voter. Existing law requires a county elections official to establish a free access system that allows a vote by mail voter to learn if his or her vote by mail ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why the ballot was not counted. Existing federal law, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) , provides federal funding for states to carry out specified activities, such as improving voting systems and technology and methods for casting and counting votes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/12/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2218&version=20170AB221899INT)
2. **05/25/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2218&version=20170AB221898AMD)
3. **09/17/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2218&version=20170AB221896CHP)
4. **AB2218** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2218)
5. **08/23/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2218&version=20170AB221897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB2218 Berman et al. By Allen — **26–6** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **13–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 2218 BERMAN Assembly Third Reading — **64–14** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Berman — primary (person)
- Gonzalez Fletcher — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-02-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-13** From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.
- **2018-03-01** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-05-09** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 3.) (May 25). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-05-25** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-05-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 64. Noes 14. Page 5622.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-06-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-06-13** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-07-02** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-07-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 6. Page 5510.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-22** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2018-08-27** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-09-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 432, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/10c060f6-aa47-4bd5-854b-c47f482837ce`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).