Opinion ID: 2603522
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Delivery of Absentee Ballots.

Text: (4) Fifteen voters submitted applications for absentee ballots [2] and listed the residence or business address of Joseph Goodwill [3] as the place to which the ballot should be mailed. The county clerk mailed the ballots to the specified addresses. Eight voters picked up their ballots at Mr. Goodwill's office. Two voters who were relatives of Mr. Goodwill picked up their ballots at his home. Mr. Goodwill delivered the remaining five ballots to voters at their homes. Appellants argue that these 15 ballots should not be counted because the clerk violated section 1007, which provides in pertinent part that [i]f the official deems the applicant entitled to an absent voter's ballot he or she shall deliver by mail or in person the appropriate ballot. Appellants argue that this provision requires that ballots be mailed only to the voter's residence, and that it prohibits third parties from delivering the ballot to the voter. Appellants' contention that section 1007 prohibits the election official from mailing a ballot to a qualified voter at an address other than his residence is plainly meritless. Nothing in section 1007 indicates such a requirement. In fact, related sections of the absentee ballot provisions specifically allow the voter to name a mailing address different from his residence. (See §§ 1006 [absentee ballot application must provide for residence address and address to which the ballot is to be mailed], and 1451 [applicant for permanent absent voter status must indicate address where ballot is to be mailed, if different from the place of residence].) Also unpersuasive is appellants' argument that a third party whose address the voter has specified for delivery of his ballot may not deliver the absentee ballot to a voter. Appellants can point to no specific provision prohibiting third-party delivery when the voter has directed the election official to deliver his ballot to an address other than his residence. They refer us to an opinion of the Attorney General finding that section 1007 does not authorize delivery of absentee ballots to authorized representatives of the voter; we remain unpersuaded. The Attorney General stated that because section 1017 specifically allows delivery of absentee ballots to third-party designated representatives when a disabled or absent voter missed the usual time limit for applying for an absentee ballot, the Legislature must have intended that this third-party delivery not be available when the voter meets the deadline. (62 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 439, 442 (1979).) We find this interpretation of legislative intent inconsistent with the Legislature's caveat that the absentee-voter provisions be interpreted liberally in favor of the absent voter. (§ 1001.) The Legislature clearly contemplated that the voter could choose to receive his absentee ballot at a place other than his residence; naturally this choice could mean that a person other than the voter would actually receive the ballot. Since the Legislature authorized voters to receive ballots at a place other than their residence, we can assume that the Legislature anticipated that in some cases a third party would convey the ballot to the voter. We certainly cannot find any mandatory provision the breach of which would permit disenfranchising these 15 voters. As the trial court found, each of these voters actually received his or her absentee ballots and there was no tampering with them. We recognize that there is some potential for abuse if campaign workers and candidates gain undue control of the distribution of absentee ballots, but elimination of this risk is a legislative task.