HB 377

1
A bill to be entitled
2An act relating to voting systems; amending s. 101.5601,
3F.S.; revising a cross-reference in the short title of the
4"Electronic Voting Systems Act," to conform to changes
5made by this act; amending s. 101.5606, F.S.; requiring
6electronic or electromechanical voting systems to produce
7a paper record of votes; requiring the manufacturers of
8electronic or electromechanical voting systems and certain
9election officials to meet specified requirements with
10respect to the creation, use, and alteration of system
11software and with respect to avoiding conflicts of
12influence; creating s. 101.56061, F.S.; providing for the
13preservation of paper records of votes; requiring that
14paper records be suitable for manual audits; providing
15that paper records are the true and correct records of
16votes cast; providing for paper records of certain
17absentee voters; amending s. 101.5607, F.S.; requiring the
18Secretary of State to certify all hardware and software
19used in electronic or electromechanical voting systems;
20creating s. 101.5615, F.S. providing prohibitions relating
21to electronic or electromechanical voting systems;
22creating s. 101.592, F.S.; requiring the Secretary of
23State to conduct random manual audits for each general
24election; providing procedures and requirements relating
25to random manual audits; amending s. 101.715, F.S.;
26requiring the Secretary of State to ensure that election
27officials are given specified instructions relating to
28people having a disability; providing an effective date.
29
30Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
31
32     Section 1.  Section 101.5601, Florida Statutes, is amended
33to read:
34     101.5601  Short title.--Sections 101.5601-101.5615
35101.5601-101.5614 may be cited as the "Electronic Voting Systems
36Act."
37     Section 2.  Section 101.5606, Florida Statutes, is amended
38to read:
39     101.5606  Requirements for approval of systems.--
40     (1)  No electronic or electromechanical voting system shall
41be approved by the Department of State unless it is so
42constructed that:
43     (a)(1)  It permits and requires voting in secrecy.
44     (b)(2)  It permits each elector to vote at any election for
45all persons and offices for whom and for which the elector is
46lawfully entitled to vote, and no others; to vote for as many
47persons for an office as the elector is entitled to vote for;
48and to vote for or against any question upon which the elector
49is entitled to vote.
50     (c)(3)  It immediately rejects a ballot where the number of
51votes for an office or measure exceeds the number which the
52voter is entitled to cast or where the tabulating equipment
53reads the ballot as a ballot with no votes cast.
54     (d)(4)  For systems using marksense ballots, it accepts a
55rejected ballot pursuant to paragraph (c) subsection (3) if a
56voter chooses to cast the ballot, but records no vote for any
57office that has been overvoted or undervoted.
58     (e)(5)  It is capable of correctly counting votes.
59     (f)(6)  It permits each voter at a primary election to vote
60only for the candidates seeking nomination by the political
61party in which such voter is registered, for any candidate for
62nonpartisan office, and for any question upon which the voter is
63entitled to vote.
64     (g)(7)  At presidential elections it permits each elector,
65by one operation, to vote for all presidential electors of a
66party or for all presidential electors of candidates for
67President and Vice President with no party affiliation.
68     (h)(8)  It provides a method for write-in voting.
69     (i)(9)  It is capable of accumulating a count of the
70specific number of ballots tallied for a precinct, accumulating
71total votes by candidate for each office, and accumulating total
72votes for and against each question and issue of the ballots
73tallied for a precinct.
74     (j)(10)  It is capable of tallying votes from ballots of
75different political parties from the same precinct, in the case
76of a primary election.
77     (k)(11)  It is capable of automatically producing precinct
78totals in printed, marked, or punched form, or a combination
79thereof.
80     (l)(12)  If it is of a type which registers votes
81electronically, it will permit each voter to change his or her
82vote for any candidate or upon any question appearing on the
83official ballot up to the time that the voter takes the final
84step to register his or her vote and to have the vote computed.
85     (m)(13)  It is capable of providing records from which the
86operation of the voting system may be audited.
87     (n)(14)  It uses a precinct-count tabulation system.
88     (o)(15)  It does not use an apparatus or device for the
89piercing of ballots by the voter.
90     (p)  It produces or requires the use of an individual
91voter-verified paper record of the vote that shall be made
92available for inspection and verification by the voter before
93the vote is cast. For purposes of this subsection, examples of
94such a record include a paper ballot prepared by the voter for
95the purpose of being read by an optical scanner, a paper ballot
96prepared by the voter to be mailed to an election official,
97whether from a domestic or overseas location, a paper ballot
98created through the use of a ballot-marking device, or a paper
99printout of the vote produced by a touchscreen or other
100electronic voting machine, so long as in each case the record
101permits the voter to verify the record in accordance with this
102subsection.
103     1.  The electronic or electromechanical voting system shall
104provide the voter with an opportunity to correct any error made
105by the system in the voter-verified paper record before the
106permanent voter-verified paper record is preserved in accordance
107with s. 101.56061.
108     2.  The electronic or electromechanical voting system shall
109not preserve the voter-verifiable paper records in any manner
110that makes it possible to associate a voter with the record of
111the vote.
112     (2)  The manufacturer of the electronic or
113electromechanical voting system and the election officials using
114such system meet the following applicable requirements:
115     (a)  The manufacturer and the election officials shall
116document the chain of custody for the handling of software used
117in connection with the electronic or electromechanical voting
118system.
119     (b)  The manufacturer of the software used in the operation
120of the system shall provide the Secretary of State with updated
121information regarding the identification of each person who
122participated in the writing of the software, including specific
123information regarding whether the person has ever been convicted
124of a crime involving election fraud.
125     (c)  In the same manner and to the same extent described in
126s. 101.5615(1), the manufacturer shall provide the codes used in
127any software used in connection with the system to the Secretary
128of State and may not alter such codes once the election
129officials have certified the system unless such system is
130recertified by such election officials.
131     (d)  The manufacturer shall meet standards established by
132the Secretary of State to prevent the existence or appearance of
133any conflict of interest with respect to candidates for public
134office and political parties, including standards to ensure that
135the manufacturer and its officers and directors do not hold
136positions of authority in any political party or in any partisan
137political campaign.
138     Section 3.  Section 101.56061, Florida Statutes, is created
139to read:
140     101.56061  Preservation of paper record of vote; manual
141audit requirements.--
142     (1)  The permanent paper record produced in accordance with
143s. 101.5606(16) shall be preserved:
144     (a)  In the case of votes cast at the polling place on the
145date of the election, in the manner in which all other paper
146ballots are preserved within such polling place;
147     (b)  In the case of votes cast at the polling place prior
148to the date of the election or cast by mail, in a manner that is
149consistent with the manner employed by the jurisdiction for
150preserving such ballots in general; or
151     (c)  In the case of votes cast other than as specified in
152paragraph (a) or paragraph (b), in a manner that is consistent
153with the manner employed by the jurisdiction for preserving
154paper ballots in general.
155     (2)  Each paper record produced under s. 101.5606(16) shall
156be suitable for a manual audit equivalent to that of a paper
157ballot voting system.
158     (3)  In the event of any inconsistencies or irregularities
159between electronic records and the individual permanent paper
160records, the individual permanent paper record shall be the true
161and correct record of the votes cast.
162     (4)  In the case of votes cast by absent uniformed services
163voters and overseas voters, the ballots cast by such voters
164shall serve as the permanent paper record under s. 101.5606(16)
165in accordance with protocols established by the Secretary of
166State in consultation with the Secretary of Defense that
167preserve the privacy of the voter and are consistent with the
168requirements of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee
169Voting Act.
170     Section 4.  Section (3) is added to section 101.5607,
171Florida Statutes, to read:
172     101.5607  Department of State to maintain voting system
173information; prepare software; certify software and hardware.--
174     (3)  All software and hardware used in any electronic or
175electromechanical voting system shall be certified by the
176Secretary of State as meeting the requirements of s. 101.5615(1)
177and (2).
178     Section 5.  Section 101.5615, Florida Statutes, is created
179to read:
180     101.5615  Electronic or electromechanical voting system
181prohibitions.--
182     (1)  An electronic or electromechanical voting system may
183not at any time contain or use any undisclosed software. An
184electronic or electromechanical voting system containing or
185using software shall disclose the source code, object code, and
186executable representation of that software to the Secretary of
187State, and the secretary shall make that source code, object
188code, and executable representation available for inspection
189upon request to any person.
190     (2)  An electronic or electromechanical voting system may
191not contain, use, or be accessible by any wireless, power-line,
192or concealed communication device.
193     (3)  A component of any electronic or electromechanical
194voting device upon which votes are cast may not be connected to
195the Internet.
196     Section 6.  Section 101.592, Florida Statutes, is created
197to read:
198     101.592  Mandatory random audits.--
199     (1)  The Secretary of State shall conduct random,
200unannounced hand counts of the voter-verified records required
201to be produced and preserved pursuant to s. 301(a)(2) of the
202Help America Vote Act of 2002 for each general election in at
203least 2 percent of the precincts in each county.
204     (2)  The Secretary of State shall conduct an audit under
205this section of the election results in accordance with the
206following procedures:
207     (a)  Not later than 24 hours after the county supervisor of
208elections announces the final vote count in each precinct in the
209county, the secretary shall determine and announce the precincts
210in the county in which the secretary will conduct the audits.
211     (b)  With respect to votes cast at the precinct or an
212equivalent location on or before the date of the election, other
213than provisional ballots described in paragraph (c), the
214secretary shall count by hand the voter-verified records
215required to be produced and preserved pursuant to s.
216301(a)(2)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and compare
217those records with the count of such votes as announced by the
218county.
219     (c)  With respect to votes cast at the precinct or an
220equivalent location on or before the date of the election, other
221than votes cast before the date of the election described in
222paragraph (b) or votes cast by provisional ballot on the date of
223the election that are certified and counted by the county on or
224after the date of the election, including votes cast by absent
225uniformed services voters and overseas voters under the
226Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the
227secretary shall count by hand the applicable voter-verified
228records required to be produced and preserved under s.
229301(a)(2)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and compare
230that count with the count of such votes as announced by the
231county.
232     (3)  In the case of a county in which the final count of
233absentee and provisional votes is not announced until after the
234expiration of the 7-day period that begins on the date of the
235election, the Secretary of State shall initiate the process
236described in subsection (2) for conducting the audit not later
237than 24 hours after the county announces the final vote count
238for the votes cast at the precinct or equivalent location on or
239before the date of the election and shall initiate the recount
240of the absentee and provisional votes pursuant to paragraph
241(2)(c) not later than 24 hours after the county announces the
242final count of such votes.
243     (4)  Each county and jurisdiction in which an audit is
244conducted under this section shall provide the Secretary of
245State with the information and materials requested by the
246Secretary of State to enable the secretary to carry out the
247audit.
248     (5)  The selection of the precincts in a county to be
249subject to hand counts under this section shall be made by the
250Secretary of State on an entirely random basis using a uniform
251distribution in which all precincts in a county have an equal
252chance of being selected, in accordance with such procedures as
253the secretary determines appropriate, except that:
254     (a)  At least one precinct shall be selected in each county
255or an equivalent jurisdiction.
256     (b)  The Secretary of State shall publish the procedures
257for conducting hand counts in the Florida Administrative Weekly
258prior to the selection of the precincts.
259     (6)  As soon as practicable after the completion of an
260audit conducted under this section, the Secretary of State shall
261announce and publish the results of the audit and shall include
262in the announcement a comparison of the results of the election
263in the precinct as determined by the secretary under the audit
264and the final vote count in the precinct as announced by the
265county, broken down by the categories of votes described in
266paragraphs (2)(b) and (c).
267     (7)  A county may not certify the results of an election
268that is subject to an audit under this section prior to the
269completion of the audit or announce and publish of the results
270of the audit conducted under subsection (6) except to the extent
271necessary to enable the state to provide for the final
272determination of any controversy or contest concerning the
273appointment of its presidential electors prior to the deadline
274described in U.S.C. Title III, s. 6.
275     (8)  If the Secretary of State finds that any of the hand
276counts conducted under this section show cause for concern about
277the accuracy of the results of an election in a county or in a
278jurisdiction within the county, the secretary may conduct hand
279counts under this section at such additional precincts or
280equivalent locations within the county or jurisdiction as the
281secretary considers appropriate to resolve any concerns and
282ensure the accuracy of the results.
283     Section 7.  Subsection (6) is added to section 101.715,
284Florida Statutes, to read:
285     101.715  Accessibility of polling places for people having
286a disability.--
287     (6)  The Secretary of State shall ensure that all election
288officials are instructed on the right of any person who requires
289assistance to vote by reason of blindness, a disability, or the
290inability to read or write to be given assistance and to choose
291the person to give such assistance under s. 208 of the federal
292Voting Rights Act of 1965.
293     Section 8.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.