AB 1116 lets eligible Californians submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Secretary of State’s website and makes that electronic affidavit effective upon receipt if filed by the registration deadline. The bill requires the Secretary of State to obtain an electronic copy of the registrant’s signature from the Department of Motor Vehicles when the applicant provides a California driver’s license or ID number, or to accept a high-quality uploaded signature image when no California ID number is provided.
The measure imposes immediate identity verification checks (matching DL/ID number and date of birth with DMV records) or an authentication process that uses the last four digits of the Social Security number plus name and birthdate (using SSA or other state/federal sources). It centralizes signature capture and transmission to the statewide voter file and county election systems, creates accessibility requirements for signature upload, and requires security measures to protect the electronic affidavits.
At a Glance
What It Does
Authorizes electronic voter registration affidavits on the Secretary of State’s website and requires capture of an electronic signature for later ballot-envelope signature comparison — either pulled from DMV records or uploaded by the registrant. The system must verify identity immediately using DMV data for CA license/ID holders or an SSA-supported authentication process for others.
Who It Affects
Secretary of State and Department of Motor Vehicles (IT and data-sharing duties), county elections officials (must accept transmitted signatures and integrate them into county systems), voters without California driver’s licenses (required to upload signature images and provide last four SSN digits), and organizations that run voter registration drives.
Why It Matters
It shifts signature collection and basic identity verification into a state-run digital workflow, reducing reliance on paper forms but requiring new IT integrations, accessibility features, and privacy protections. Counties get a new digitized signature stream to use for vote-by-mail envelope comparisons, changing the mechanics of signature verification.
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What This Bill Actually Does
AB 1116 creates a pathway for any eligible Californian to complete an affidavit of voter registration online on the Secretary of State’s website. When completed online, those affidavits are effective on receipt if filed by the registration deadline for the relevant precinct.
The bill requires registrants to affirm the truth of their information and to assent to use of their signature for future signature-comparison procedures used by county elections officials.
For people who provide a California driver’s license or state identification number, the Secretary of State must obtain an electronic copy of the applicant’s signature directly from the DMV and immediately verify that the supplied license/ID number and date of birth match DMV records. If a registrant does not provide a California license/ID number, the system requires the last four digits of the registrant’s Social Security number, and the Secretary of State must authenticate identity using a process that checks those digits plus the applicant’s full name and date of birth against information held by the Secretary of State or the Social Security Administration.The bill instructs the Secretary of State to build an upload process that allows applicants to submit a high-quality digitized image of their signature; that image becomes part of the statewide voter registration database and is transmitted to county election management systems for use in later signature comparisons.
The upload path must be accessible to people with disabilities. If an applicant cannot provide the required electronic information or cannot upload a signature, the bill preserves a paper fallback: the applicant can print the completed affidavit and mail or deliver it to the Secretary of State or their county elections office.Operationally, the DMV must use the Secretary of State’s electronic voter registration system to fulfill its federal NVRA duties as a voter registration agency, and the DMV and Secretary of State must maintain the infrastructure necessary to transfer signature images and required identity data to counties.
The Secretary of State is also required to employ security measures to protect the accuracy and integrity of the electronic affidavits. The section becomes operative on the earliest of the provided operative dates in the bill (see Five Things and Section Breakdown for the bill’s operative-language options).
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill requires applicants with a California driver’s license or state ID to provide that number and authorizes the Secretary of State to obtain the applicant’s electronic signature directly from the DMV.
For applicants without a California license or ID number, the system requires the last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security number and an authentication process that verifies last four SSN, full name, and date of birth using Secretary of State or SSA data.
The Secretary of State must accept a high-quality digitized signature uploaded by the registrant (with an upload method accessible to people with disabilities) and transmit that image to the statewide voter registration database and county election management systems.
If a registrant cannot complete the required electronic inputs or upload a signature, the bill preserves the option to print the completed electronic affidavit and submit a hard copy by mail or delivery to the Secretary of State or county elections office.
The provision becomes operative on the earliest of the operative dates listed in the bill (including January 1, 2027; five days after the Secretary certifies IT functionality required by the bill; or September 1, 2027).
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Allows electronic affidavits and makes them effective on receipt
These paragraphs authorize a qualified person to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Secretary of State’s website and make that affidavit effective upon the Secretary’s receipt if filed by the last day to register in the filer’s precinct. They also require the applicant to affirm the truth of the information. Practically, this replaces the paper-only receipt rule for online filings and creates a hard effective-date trigger tied to receipt rather than postal postmarking.
Signature consent, sources, and upload requirements
The bill requires applicants to expressly assent to the use of their signature for later comparisons and to allow the use of the signature on their DMV license/ID or an uploaded electronic image. The Secretary of State must obtain an electronic copy of a registrant’s signature from the DMV when a California license/ID number is provided; alternatively, the registrant may upload a high-quality image that the Secretary of State will store and transmit. The upload process must be accessible to people with disabilities, making this both a data-collection and an accessibility mandate.
Identity-data required and verification pathways
Applicants must provide: (A) their California driver’s license or ID number if they have one, (B) date of birth, (C) last four digits of SSN, and (D) any other information the Secretary of State deems necessary to establish identity. When a CA license/ID number is provided, the system must immediately verify the number and date of birth against DMV records. When no CA number is provided, the Secretary of State must authenticate the applicant using a process that verifies last four SSN, full name, and date of birth against Secretary of State or SSA data. These provisions create two discrete verification flows tied to available identity data.
DMV duties and data transfers to statewide and county systems
The DMV must use the newly required electronic voter registration system to satisfy its obligations as a voter registration agency under the federal NVRA. Both DMV and the Secretary of State must maintain processes and infrastructure to transfer electronic signature copies and other required identity information to the Secretary of State and county election management systems. This allocates responsibility for data-sharing and persistent infrastructure between the two agencies and makes counties downstream recipients of digitized signature records.
Security measures and paper fallback
The Secretary of State is required to employ security measures to protect the accuracy and integrity of electronic affidavits, though the bill does not list technical standards. If an applicant cannot submit required electronic information or cannot upload a signature, the bill preserves a paper fallback: the registrant may print the completed online affidavit and mail or deliver it to the Secretary of State or the county elections official. That preserves access for people who lack the required digital inputs or hardware.
Operative-date language and certification trigger
The section sets operative timing using an earliest-date rule: operative on the earliest operative-date(s) listed in the bill, including calendar dates and a certification-based trigger. The bill ties one trigger to a Secretary of State certification that the IT infrastructure required to let non‑license holders register online and upload signatures is functional, with effectiveness five days after that certification, while also listing specific calendar dates as alternatives.
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Explore Elections in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- California voters with internet access: They gain a streamlined online option to register, reducing reliance on paper, postage, and in-person DMV visits.
- Voters without immediate access to DMV locations: Those who already hold DMV-issued IDs benefit because their DMV signature can be pulled directly into the voter file without separate upload or trip to an elections office.
- Voters with disabilities who can use the accessible upload process: The bill requires an accessible signature upload path, reducing barriers for applicants who cannot use paper or in-person services.
- County elections officials: Counties receive digitized signature images integrated into election management systems, which can speed envelope signature comparisons and reduce manual handling of paper registration forms.
- Voter registration organizations and drives: Organizations can direct registrants to a state-run online path that produces an effective affidavit on receipt, simplifying logistics for deadline-driven registration work.
Who Bears the Cost
- Secretary of State and Department of Motor Vehicles: Both agencies must develop, operate, secure, and certify new IT infrastructure and data-sharing processes — a potentially significant budget and project-management burden.
- County elections offices: Counties must accept and integrate transmitted signature images into local election systems and adapt signature-comparison workflows to digital inputs, which may require software updates and staff training.
- Applicants without a California license/ID: These registrants must provide last four SSN digits and successfully upload a high-quality signature image, which may create access barriers for people without ready digital tools or whose records do not match SSA data.
- Privacy and data-protection stakeholders: The centralization and transmission of signature images and identity data increases custodial responsibilities and potential liability for breaches or misuse of biometric-like signature data.
- Small voter-registration vendors and third-party integrators: Existing paper-form processors and vendors that service counties or nonprofits may see decreased demand or need to adapt to new digital interfaces, incurring transition costs.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill confronts a classic trade-off: expand convenient, digital access to voter registration and create a single authoritative signature source for future envelope checks, versus concentrating sensitive identity credentials in state systems and creating new verification hurdles that may disproportionately affect people without California IDs or reliable SSA matches.
AB 1116 centralizes signature capture and pushes identity verification into an online state-run flow, which improves convenience but concentrates sensitive identity data (signature images, partial SSNs, DOBs) in state and county systems. The bill mandates security measures but does not specify technical standards, leaving implementation choices (encryption, retention, access controls, audit trails) to later rulemaking or administrative practice.
That gap creates uncertainty for counties and vendors about required protections and for privacy auditors assessing compliance.
The two verification pathways — DMV-driven immediate matches for license/ID holders and an SSA/Secretary of State authentication for non‑license holders — create a risk of unequal outcomes. People who lack a CA license/ID and who cannot successfully match SSA records (for example, recent immigrants with deferred statuses, people with name changes, or those whose SSA records are incomplete) face additional friction and may need to revert to the paper fallback.
The requirement that applicants assent to the use of their signature for later envelope checks raises practical questions about how uploaded images will be standardized, stored, and matched at the county level, and how discrepancies will be resolved. Finally, the operative-date language ties rollout to a certification test but also lists calendar dates; that mix could create legal ambiguity about when counties must be ready and when registrants can expect the online option to be available.
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