Bill would require daily public reporting on mail and provisional ballots, require county voter lists online and optional phone field on ballot return envelope

Assemblyman Steve Yeager presented Assembly Bill 496, a package of proposals intended to increase transparency around outstanding ballots, make registered-voter lists more accessible and add information to mail ballot envelopes to assist signature curing.

Yeager said the measure would require county and city clerks to post daily data on mail ballots returned by drop box or by mail, the number of mail ballots requiring signature curing and the number successfully cured, plus daily counts of provisional ballots from the start of early voting through the day after the final canvass. The Secretary of State would compile county reports and would post an estimate of ballots that are in the custody of the United States Postal Service by 11 a.m. each reporting day.

The bill’s reporting deadline originally was 10 a.m.; Assembly amendment changes it to 5 p.m. and proponents later agreed with clerks to a working compromise of 11 a.m. Several county registrars told the committee the 11 a.m. deadline aligns with their operations. Bradley Schrager said centralizing and standardizing reporting would reduce confusion and “mitigate confusion and anxiety regarding the election processes.” Chief Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel De Cara explained the USPS estimate is derived from intelligent mail barcode scans applied to ballots that show when ballots enter the postal stream.

Sections of the bill would also require county clerks to publish an alphabetical downloadable list of all registered voters free of charge and to include voter identification numbers on that list; proponents argued that posting instead of publishing in a newspaper is effective and cost efficient. The measure would add a space on mail ballot return envelopes for a voter to provide a telephone number for the limited purpose of contact during signature curing; proponents said adding a phone number would increase cure rates but would not invalidate ballots if left blank.

Opponents raised fiscal and administrative concerns. Witnesses said the initial fiscal note estimated hundreds of thousands in additional county costs, and some testified that the level of daily reporting could require manual processes in some counties. Iris Stone, testifying in opposition, urged caution because of workload and recurring cost estimates. County officials from Clark and Washoe said with the amendments the requirements were largely consistent with their operations and would be manageable.

The committee took testimony but did not take a final vote during the hearing. Yeager argued the bill’s goal is to reduce misinformation about how many ballots remain to be counted and to give one official statewide snapshot of outstanding ballots during close contests.

Ending: If enacted, the bill would standardize daily reporting about outstanding ballots and make voter lists and certain ballot-cure information more broadly available; implementation details, timing and any fiscal impacts remain points of negotiation.