And Ill Vote for Him Again
California recently amended its laws regarding the limitation of a person's right to vote based on his or her mental incompetence and conservatorship status. Specifically, Senate Pecker (SB) 589 (Block, Chapter 736 of the Statutes of 2015) amended several sections of the Elections Lawmaking and the Probate Code related to the voting rights of persons subject to a conservatorship (conservatees). The information below focuses only on the changes to the Elections Code as a effect of SB 589.
Voter Registration Awarding
SB 589 amended Elections Code section 2102 to require that an individual with a disability who is under a conservatorship be permitted to register to vote unless that individual has been butterfingers from voting. Department 2102 besides requires that an private with a disability, who is otherwise qualified to vote but needs accommodations to complete an affirmation of voter registration, be granted such necessary accommodations to the extent they are reasonable.
Elections Lawmaking section 2150, which specifies the minimum content of a voter registration affidavit, at present too requires that an individual with a disability exist permitted to complete the affidavit of registration with reasonable accommodations, equally needed. If another person helps the voter to complete the affidavit, that person must besides sign and appointment the affidavit.
Presumption of Competency to Vote
Elections Lawmaking section 2208 at present establishes a presumption that a person is competent to vote regardless of his or her conservatorship status. A person may be declared mentally incompetent and therefore butterfingers from voting only if a court or, in certain cases, a jury finds past clear and convincing evidence that the person cannot communicate, with or without reasonable accommodations, a desire to participate in the voting process and the person is subject field to a conservatorship or is gravely disabled, equally specified.
Elections Lawmaking section 2208 also prohibits a person's disqualification from voting simply because he or she needs to sign the affidavit of registration with a marking, a cross, or a signature stamp; completes the affidavit with help from another person; or completes the affidavit with other reasonable accommodations.
Yearly or Biennial Review
Elections Lawmaking section 2209 was besides amended to provide that during the yearly or biennial review of probate conservatorships, including limited conservatorships, the courtroom investigator must review the conservatee's adequacy of communicating, with or without reasonable accommodations, a desire to participate in the voting process. If the conservatee was disqualified from voting because he or she could not communicate that desire or because he or she could not complete an affirmation of voter registration and the investigator finds that the conservatee is currently incapable of communicating a desire to vote, then the disqualification from voting may continue without a court hearing.
If, however, the conservatee was disqualified nether either standard—inability to complete a registration affirmation or inability to communicate a want to vote—and the investigator finds that the conservatee is capable of communicating a want to vote, the investigator must notify the court, which must then hold a hearing regarding capability. Unless it determines by clear and convincing testify that the conservatee is incapable of communicating a desire to vote, the courtroom must restore the conservatee's correct to register to vote.
On the other paw, if the conservatee has not been disqualified from voting and the investigator determines that the conservatee cannot currently communicate a want to vote, the investigator must inform the courtroom, and the court must concur a hearing regarding capability. Once again, unless information technology finds by clear and convincing testify that the conservatee cannot communicate a desire to vote, the court must affirm the conservatee'southward right to register to vote.
Finally, if the conservatee was not butterfingers from voting and the investigator finds that he or she is currently able to communicate a want to vote, no farther judicial action is needed.
It is of import to annotation that restoration of a conservatee'southward correct to register to vote does non automatically atomic number 82 to his or her registration. A newly eligible conservatee must annals to vote as described below.
More Information and Resources
✆ If you have any questions well-nigh your voting rights as a conservatee or the voting rights of a loved one, please phone call the Disability Rights California Voting Hotline at (888) 569-7955.
Judicial Council of California's Cocky-Assist section addressing Conservatorships can be found at http://world wide web.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-conservatorship.htm.
✆ If you lot are not registered to vote and are eligible, you lot may fill out an online voter registration application. You may as well choice up an application at your canton elections office, any Section of Motor Vehicles part, and many mail offices, public libraries, and other authorities offices. To have a paper awarding mailed to you, call your canton elections part or the Secretary of Land'due south toll-costless voter hotline at (800) 345-VOTE.
The full text of SB 589 can be found at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB589.
Your Vote Matters!
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Source: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-info/conservatorship
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