| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to elections; providing a popular name; |
| 3 | amending s. 97.041, F.S.; providing for automatic |
| 4 | restoration of former felons' right to vote following |
| 5 | completion and satisfaction of sentence of incarceration |
| 6 | and community supervision; providing conditions for such |
| 7 | automatic restoration; amending ss. 97.052, 97.053, and |
| 8 | 98.0977, F.S., to conform; providing a contingent |
| 9 | effective date. |
| 10 |
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| 11 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Citizens' |
| 14 | Empowerment Act." |
| 15 | Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section |
| 16 | 97.041, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 17 | 97.041 Qualifications to register or vote.-- |
| 18 | (2) The following persons, who might be otherwise |
| 19 | qualified, are not entitled to register or vote: |
| 20 | (b) A person who has been convicted of any felony by any |
| 21 | court of record; however, such a person's right to register or |
| 22 | vote is automatically restored by operation of law 1 year after |
| 23 | completion and satisfaction of all sentences imposed upon such |
| 24 | person. For the purposes of this paragraph, "completion and |
| 25 | satisfaction of all sentences" occurs when a person is released |
| 26 | from incarceration upon expiration of sentence and has achieved |
| 27 | or completed all other nonmonetary terms and conditions of the |
| 28 | sentence or subsequent supervision or, if the person has not |
| 29 | been incarcerated for a felony offense, has achieved or |
| 30 | completed all nonmonetary terms and conditions of community |
| 31 | supervision imposed by a court. If a majority of the Board of |
| 32 | Executive Clemency objects before the automatic restoration of |
| 33 | the right to register or vote, such rights shall be restored |
| 34 | only upon application to, and approval by, the Board of |
| 35 | Executive Clemency and who has not had his or her right to vote |
| 36 | restored pursuant to law. |
| 37 | Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 97.052, Florida |
| 38 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 39 | 97.052 Uniform statewide voter registration application.-- |
| 40 | (2) The uniform statewide voter registration application |
| 41 | must be designed to elicit the following information from the |
| 42 | applicant: |
| 43 | (a) Full name. |
| 44 | (b) Date of birth. |
| 45 | (c) Address of legal residence. |
| 46 | (d) Mailing address, if different. |
| 47 | (e) County of legal residence. |
| 48 | (f) Address of property for which the applicant has been |
| 49 | granted a homestead exemption, if any. |
| 50 | (g) Race or ethnicity that best describes the applicant: |
| 51 | 1. American Indian or Alaskan Native. |
| 52 | 2. Asian or Pacific Islander. |
| 53 | 3. Black, not Hispanic. |
| 54 | 4. White, not Hispanic. |
| 55 | 5. Hispanic. |
| 56 | (h) State or country of birth. |
| 57 | (i) Sex. |
| 58 | (j) Party affiliation. |
| 59 | (k) Whether the applicant needs assistance in voting. |
| 60 | (l) Name and address where last registered. |
| 61 | (m) Last four digits of the applicant's social security |
| 62 | number. |
| 63 | (n) Florida driver's license number or the identification |
| 64 | number from a Florida identification card issued under s. |
| 65 | 322.051. |
| 66 | (o) Telephone number (optional). |
| 67 | (p) Signature of applicant under penalty for false |
| 68 | swearing pursuant to s. 104.011, by which the person subscribes |
| 69 | to the oath required by s. 3, Art. VI of the State Constitution |
| 70 | and s. 97.051, and swears or affirms that the information |
| 71 | contained in the registration application is true. |
| 72 | (q) Whether the application is being used for initial |
| 73 | registration, to update a voter registration record, or to |
| 74 | request a replacement registration identification card. |
| 75 | (r) Whether the applicant is a citizen of the United |
| 76 | States. |
| 77 | (s) That the applicant has not been convicted of a felony |
| 78 | or, if convicted, has had his or her voting civil rights |
| 79 | restored. |
| 80 | (t) That the applicant has not been adjudicated mentally |
| 81 | incapacitated with respect to voting or, if so adjudicated, has |
| 82 | had his or her right to vote restored. |
| 83 |
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| 84 | The registration form must be in plain language and designed so |
| 85 | that convicted felons whose voting civil rights have been |
| 86 | restored and persons who have been adjudicated mentally |
| 87 | incapacitated and have had their voting rights restored are not |
| 88 | required to reveal their prior conviction or adjudication. |
| 89 | Section 4. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section |
| 90 | 97.053, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 91 | 97.053 Acceptance of voter registration applications.-- |
| 92 | (5)(a) A voter registration application is complete if it |
| 93 | contains: |
| 94 | 1. The applicant's name. |
| 95 | 2. The applicant's legal residence address. |
| 96 | 3. The applicant's date of birth. |
| 97 | 4. An indication that the applicant is a citizen of the |
| 98 | United States. |
| 99 | 5. The applicant's Florida driver's license number, the |
| 100 | identification number from a Florida identification card issued |
| 101 | under s. 322.051, or the last four digits of the applicant's |
| 102 | social security number. |
| 103 | 6. An indication that the applicant has not been convicted |
| 104 | of a felony or that, if convicted, has had his or her voting |
| 105 | civil rights restored. |
| 106 | 7. An indication that the applicant has not been |
| 107 | adjudicated mentally incapacitated with respect to voting or |
| 108 | that, if so adjudicated, has had his or her right to vote |
| 109 | restored. |
| 110 | 8. Signature of the applicant swearing or affirming under |
| 111 | the penalty for false swearing pursuant to s. 104.011 that the |
| 112 | information contained in the registration application is true |
| 113 | and subscribing to the oath required by s. 3, Art. VI of the |
| 114 | State Constitution and s. 97.051. |
| 115 | Section 5. Subsection (1) and paragraph (d) of subsection |
| 116 | (3) of section 98.0977, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 117 | 98.0977 Statewide voter registration database; operation |
| 118 | and maintenance.-- |
| 119 | (1) The department shall operate and maintain the |
| 120 | statewide, on-line voter registration database and associated |
| 121 | website until such time as the statewide voter registration |
| 122 | system required to be developed pursuant to the Help America |
| 123 | Vote Act of 2002 is operational. The database shall contain |
| 124 | voter registration information from each of the 67 supervisors |
| 125 | of elections in this state and shall be accessible through an |
| 126 | Internet website. The system shall provide functionality for |
| 127 | ensuring that the database is updated on a daily basis to |
| 128 | determine if a registered voter is ineligible to vote for any of |
| 129 | the following reasons, including, but not limited to: |
| 130 | (a) The voter is deceased; |
| 131 | (b) The voter has been convicted of a felony and has not |
| 132 | had his or her voting civil rights restored; or |
| 133 | (c) The voter has been adjudicated mentally incompetent |
| 134 | and his or her mental capacity with respect to voting has not |
| 135 | been restored. |
| 136 |
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| 137 | The database shall also allow for duplicate voter registrations |
| 138 | to be identified. |
| 139 | (3) |
| 140 | (d) When the supervisor of elections finds information |
| 141 | through the database that suggests that a voter has been |
| 142 | convicted of a felony and has not had his or her voting civil |
| 143 | rights restored or has been adjudicated mentally incompetent and |
| 144 | his or her mental capacity with respect to voting has not been |
| 145 | restored, the supervisor of elections shall notify the voter by |
| 146 | certified United States mail. The notification shall contain a |
| 147 | statement as to the reason for the voter's potential |
| 148 | ineligibility to be registered to vote and shall request |
| 149 | information from the voter on forms provided by the supervisor |
| 150 | of elections. As an alternative, the voter may attend a hearing |
| 151 | at a time and place specified in the notice. If there is |
| 152 | evidence that the notice was not received, notice must be given |
| 153 | once by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the |
| 154 | county. The notice must plainly state that the voter is |
| 155 | potentially ineligible to be registered to vote and must state a |
| 156 | time and place for the person to appear before the supervisor of |
| 157 | elections to show cause why his or her name should not be |
| 158 | removed from the voter registration rolls. After reviewing the |
| 159 | information provided by the voter, if the supervisor of |
| 160 | elections determines that the voter is not eligible to vote |
| 161 | under the laws of this state, the supervisor of elections shall |
| 162 | notify the voter by certified United States mail that he or she |
| 163 | has been found ineligible to be registered to vote in this |
| 164 | state, shall state the reason for the ineligibility, and shall |
| 165 | inform the voter that he or she has been removed from the voter |
| 166 | registration rolls. The supervisor of elections shall remove |
| 167 | from the voter registration rolls the name of any voter who |
| 168 | fails either to respond within 30 days to the notice sent by |
| 169 | certified mail or to attend the hearing. |
| 170 | Section 6. This act shall take effect on the effective |
| 171 | date of House Joint Resolution 271 or another amendment to the |
| 172 | State Constitution which authorizes, or removes impediments to, |
| 173 | enactment of this act by the Legislature. |