New elections law faces skepticism

SACRAMENTO — A new statewide poll shows widespread voter opposition to a California law that allows counties to close polling places and instead rely on absentee ballots and a limited number of multipurpose election centers.

Sixty-one percent of voters said they didn’t like the idea of switching to “voter centers” and all-mail ballots, according to the poll released Tuesday by UC Davis’ California Civic Engagement Project.

“Voters are not initially receptive to vote centers,” said Mindy Romero, the project’s founder, during a presentation in Sacramento.

There are 14 counties eligible to use the new rules in 2018, with all other California counties being able to join them and move away from neighborhood polling places two years later in 2020. So far, only a handful have agreed to the change.

Supporters have said the law builds on the trend toward voting by mail, while allowing voters more access to a variety of electionrelated services — including election day registration — at locations placed throughout communities.

But the poll found skepticism across a number of subgroups of voters, both by ethnicity and age. Eight in 10 of the voters surveyed said they typically travel 10 minutes or less to their polling place, a distance that could grow in the counties that switch to vote centers.