A California Assembly committee unanimously advanced SB 970 on June 17, moving the bill closer to a new set of regulations for secure ballot return by military and overseas voters.
The measure, presented at the Assembly Elections Committee hearing, would require the secretary of state to develop regulations for a secure ballot-return method after the federal DoD FACTS service ended, according to testimony at the hearing.
Supporters said the change is needed to protect ballot access for deployed service members and Californians living overseas, especially as mail delays and the loss of the federal service can make it harder to return ballots on time.
Witnesses representing the secretary of state’s office and Verified Voting did not oppose the bill outright, but raised security and standards concerns. They urged lawmakers to provide more detail on how any new return method would work before it is authorized.
The committee sent SB 970 to the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs on a unanimous vote.
The hearing was part of a broader committee agenda that also included other elections-related measures, but SB 970 was the bill focused on military and overseas ballot-return access.
