Rules, Ethics & Elections Committee
CS/SB 1118, 1st ENG. - Elections
By Ethics and Elections; Posey
Linked Bills: None.
Tied Bills: Compare H 49, H 51, H 129, H 631, H 745, H 749, H 1411, H 1583, H 1625, H 1757, CS/ 1st ENG/H 1921, CS/1st ENG/H 1925, H 1987, CS/S 152, CS/S 200, CS/CS/CS/1st ENG/S 1120, CS/S 1122, CS/S 1138, S 1150, S 1252, CS/CS/S 1374, CS/2nd ENG/S 1576, CS/S 1872, CS/1st/ENG/S 1978, S 1982, CS/S 2098, S 2102, and CS/CS/2nd ENG/S 2108. Includes part of H 189, H 749, H 1757, CS/1st ENG/H 1921, CS/1st ENG/H 1925, CS/S 1116, CS/S 1120, CS/S 1122 and CS/CS/S 1374.
Committee(s)/Councils(s) of Reference: Ethics and Elections; Appropriation Subcommittee on General Government; Appropriations; Rules and Calendar
CS/SB 1118 creates the Florida Election Reform Act of 2001. The bill is the product of a conference committee. The bill makes significant changes to Florida's election laws. Punchcards, paper ballots, mechanical lever machines and central-count voting systems will no longer be used in the state, beginning with the 2002 primary election. Any future system certified for use in the state must have a precinct-count tabulation system. The Division of Elections is required to provide for a uniform ballot design for each certified voting system in the state. Funding is provided to the counties based on the number of precincts in the county as of the 2000 General Election. Small counties will receive $7500 per precinct and other counties will receive $3750 per precinct. The distribution of funds is to be made over a two-year period.
The bill establishes a provisional ballot system to allow voters whose eligibility cannot be determined to vote a provisional ballot on Election Day. The county canvassing board will review the information on the Voter's Certificate and determine if the person was eligible to vote at the precinct in the election. If it is determined that the person was registered and entitled to vote at the precinct in the election, the canvassing board will compare the signature on the provisional ballot envelope with the signature on the voter's registration and, if it matches, the ballot will be counted. If it is determined that the person voting the provisional ballot was not registered or entitled to vote at the precinct in the election, the ballot will not be removed from the envelope containing the Voter's Certificate.
The bill provides for the same manner of recount in all affected jurisdictions. For statewide elections, recounts will be conducted in every county in Florida to insure fair and equal treatment of all Florida voters. For multicounty races, all counties comprising the district of the candidacy or ballot measure at issue will be required to recount.
The bill eliminates the election protest and the statutory limited manual recount (1% of votes cast), and also removes all discretion from local canvassing boards in ordering manual recounts. Specifically, the bill requires an automatic machine recount, if the margin or victory in any race or ballot question is one-half of one percent or less; a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes, if the margin of victory in any race or ballot question is one-quarter of one percent or less; a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes where the margin of victory in any race or ballot question is between one-quarter and one-half of one percent, provided a written request is made no later than 5 p.m. on the second day after the election.
With regard to the automatic machine recount, the bill provides that counties using optical scan technology run the ballots through the tabulators a second time instead of just adding up summary totals from the tabulators.
The bill clarifies the current statutory "voter intent" standard in a number of provisions of Florida's election code. Under the bill, a vote for a candidate or ballot question will count if there is a "clear indication on the ballot that the voter has made a definite choice." The Department of State is charged with adopting rules for each certified voting system prescribing precisely what constitutes a "clear indication on the ballot that the voter has made a definite choice." In addition to developing these administrative sub standards, the bill also charges the Department to adopt rules prescribing uniform recount procedures.
One of the recommendations made by the Governor's Select Task Force on Election Procedures, Standards and Technology, was for clarification of the grounds for contesting an election. Specifically, s. 102.168(3)(e), F.S., was identified by the task force as potentially opening the door to continual contests, and perhaps delaying the finality of election results and the ability of the governing process to begin in a timely manner. The bill eliminates this particular ground for contesting an election. Further, the bill deletes s. 102.168(8), F.S., which afforded a circuit judge unfettered discretion in fashioning subsequent orders and the authority to order investigations to prevent or correct any alleged wrong and to provide any relief appropriate under such circumstances.
The bill maintains the certification deadline for the first primary. The bill moves the certification deadline for the second primary and general election to allow adequate time for the receipt and counting of all valid overseas ballots, and to provide more time for conducting recounts, if necessary. The statutory conflict between ss. 102.111 and 102.112, F.S., has been removed by providing that returns not received by the department by the time specified shall be ignored and the results on file at that time shall be certified by the Elections Canvassing Commission. An exception is provided for late-filed returns due to an emergency, as defined in s. 101.732, F.S., upon which case the Elections Canvassing Commission would determine the deadline. In turn, the monetary penalties to be assessed against canvassing board members for filing late returns have been removed. A criminal penalty is created for early release of election results by election officials.
For the 2002 election cycle, the second primary will be eliminated. The remaining primary will be held on the second Tuesday in September to avoid the Labor Day holiday. Various dates are revised to conform to this change for the 2002 elections.
Several new sections are created to facilitate the provisions of the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The definition of absent elector is clarified to clearly indicate that any registered voter may vote an absentee ballot without cause. Several sections that were not precleared by the United States Justice Department, or that have proven unworkable in practice, have been repealed. Canvassing boards will be allowed to process absentee ballots through the tabulating equipment up to four days prior to the election. Additionally, the bill removes any reference to social security numbers for purposes of requesting an absentee ballot.
The bill provides for the development of a statewide voter registration database by the Department of State. The database is to contain voter registration information from every supervisor of elections in this state and shall be accessible through an Internet web site. The Department is given the authority to contract with the Florida Association of Court Clerks to analyze, design, develop, operate, and maintain the statewide, on-line voter registration database and associated Internet web site. The database system adopted must provide functionality for ensuring that the database is updated on a daily basis to determine if a registered voter is ineligible to vote. The administration of the database at the local level is to be conducted by the supervisor of elections.
To the maximum extent feasible, state and local governmental agencies are directed to facilitate the provision of information and access to data to both the Department of State and the supervisors of elections in order to compare information. These agencies are instructed to provide such data at no charge, if the cost incurred is not significant. The Division of Elections is directed to provide written, quarterly progress reports on each phase of development to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives beginning July 1, 2001, and continuing until the database is fully implemented. The database is to be operational by June 1, 2002. The bill provides a criminal penalty for any supervisor of elections who willfully refuses or willfully neglects to perform his or her duties with respect to the implementation of the statewide voter registration database by cross-referencing s. 104.051(2), F.S. Finally, the bill appropriates $2 million from general revenue to the Department of State to provide for the development and implementation of the database.
Minimum standards and hourly requirements are provided for the training of pollworkers. The Division of Elections is required to adopt minimum standards for voter education. Each county will be able to receive funds for voter education and pollworker training upon submission of a detailed description of the programs to be implemented. A Voter's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities is required to be posted at each polling place on Election Day. The Department of State is required to prescribe a uniform polling place procedures manual, to be made available in each precinct on Election Day. The manual, to be used as a guide for pollworkers on Election Day, must provide specific examples of common problems encountered at the polls and provide specific procedures for resolving those problems. Each supervisor is required to implement the minimum standards and is authorized to conduct additional voter education as necessary in the county. The bill appropriates $5,949,375 from general revenue to the Division of Elections of the Department of State in fiscal year 2001-2002 to be distributed to the counties upon receipt of a detailed description of the voter-education programs to be implemented by the supervisors of elections.
The composition of the Elections Canvassing Commission is modified to consist of the Governor and two members of the Cabinet. If in the event of a vacancy, the remaining Cabinet member would serve. Any succeeding vacancies would be filled by an elected public official, as determined by the Commission.
The Division of Elections, in conjunction with the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, is required to study the benefits and drawbacks of having uniform poll opening and closing times throughout the state.
The Florida Election Campaign Financing Act is amended to provide new legislative intent language with respect to a candidate's responsiveness to the voters of the State of Florida. The act provides that contributions from out of state will not be counted toward the threshold amounts needed to receive public financings, and will not be qualifying matching contributions.
Subject to the Governor's veto powers, the effective date of this bill is January 1, 2002, except as otherwise provided..
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