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Matthew J. Cunningham

What Is “Absentee Ballot Harvesting”?

Posted by at 12:00 am on Jan 24, 2007

I’d like to mine to collective expertise and experience of FR Blog readers to answer the question: what is "absentee ballot harvesting."

The reason I ask is the OC Democratic Party is having an "absentee ballot harvesting precinct walk" this Saturday to boost former Democratic Assemblyman Tom Umberg‘s candidacy for the Feb. 6 OC Board of Supervisors special election.

As I wrote on Red County/OC Blog, I’m not sure what an "absentee ballot harvesting precinct walk" is, but it sounds like Democratic Party volunteers and operatives going to the homes of absentee voters and asking them for their completed absentee ballots, i.e. "harvesting" their absentee ballots.

If that is what "absentee ballot harvesting" is, it would violate the California Election Code:

3017.  (a) All absentee ballots cast under this division shall be voted on or before the day of the election.  After marking the ballot, the absent voter shall either:  (1) return the ballot by mail or in person to the elections official from whom it came or (2) return the ballot in person to any member of a precinct board at any polling place within the jurisdiction.  However, an absent voter who, because of illness or other physical disability, is unable to return the ballot, may designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, or a person residing in the same household as the absent voter to return the ballot to the elections official from whom it came or to the precinct board at any polling place within the jurisdiction.  The ballot must, however, be received by either the elections official from whom it came or the precinct board before the close of the polls on election day.    (
    b) The elections official shall establish procedures to insure the secrecy of any ballot returned to a precinct polling place.   
    (c) The provisions of this section are mandatory, not directory, and no ballot shall be counted if it is not delivered in compliance with this section.  
    (d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), no absent voter’s ballot shall be returned by any paid or volunteer worker of any general purpose committee, controlled committee, independent expenditure committee, political party, candidate’s campaign committee, or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service.  However, this subdivision shall not apply to a candidate or a candidate’s spouse. [emphasis added]

Maybe it is something else entirely and the OC Dems chose an unfortunate term for this weekend’s activity. Either way, I’d appreciate any feedback and information from any FR readers have enountered or participated in "absentee ballot harvesting."

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.

One Response to “What Is “Absentee Ballot Harvesting”?”

  1. sippelcathy@yahoo.com Says:
    January 30th, 2007 at 12:00 am

    Matthew,

    I’ve worked on a absentee ballot harvesting campaign in the past for a CA Rep. candidate. It was perfectly legal (albeit, dangerously close to crossing that legal boundary) and entailed knocking on a voter’s door and encouraging them to either complete the ballot or place it in their mailbox while the precinct walker was in their presence. It is illegal for the precinct walker to touch the ballot.