CA AB544

Establishes a pilot grant program through January 1, 2030 requiring the Secretary of State to provide grants to San Benito, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz counties to facilitate in-person voting for eligible incarcerated persons in jail facilities.

Requires participating counties to allow eligible incarcerated persons to register to vote, vote by mail, vote provisionally, receive replacement ballots, and use accessible voting machines during voting periods from 29 days before through election day.

Mandates counties designate a voting coordinator at each jail facility responsible for maintaining voter education materials, posting informational flyers in multiple languages, and ensuring voter registration forms are continuously available to incarcerated persons.

Requires county sheriffs to develop policies protecting ballot secrecy, timely submit registration forms and ballots to election officials, and provide voter eligibility information upon jail intake and discharge.

Mandates each pilot county provide at least 8 cumulative hours of voting time per jail facility (with a goal of 13 hours) and submit evaluation reports to the Secretary of State including voting statistics, costs, and recommendations for future jail voting programs.