| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to elections; amending s. 101.591, F.S.; |
| 3 | providing circumstances under which a voting system audit |
| 4 | is not required to be conducted; amending s. 101.62, F.S.; |
| 5 | deleting certain required justifications for a supervisor |
| 6 | to send an absentee ballot to an alternative address; |
| 7 | amending s. 101.68, F.S.; increasing the number of days |
| 8 | before an election that a county canvassing board may |
| 9 | begin canvassing absentee ballots and processing absentee |
| 10 | ballots when electronic tabulating equipment is used; |
| 11 | providing an effective date. |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 101.591, Florida |
| 16 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 17 | 101.591 Voting system audit.- |
| 18 | (1) Immediately following the certification of each |
| 19 | election, the county canvassing board or the local board |
| 20 | responsible for certifying the election shall conduct a manual |
| 21 | audit of the voting systems used in randomly selected precincts. |
| 22 | However, if a manual recount was conducted pursuant to s. |
| 23 | 102.166, it is not necessary to conduct a manual audit of the |
| 24 | voting system. |
| 25 | Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section |
| 26 | 101.62, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 27 | 101.62 Request for absentee ballots.- |
| 28 | (4) |
| 29 | (b) The supervisor shall provide an absentee ballot to |
| 30 | each elector by whom a request for that ballot has been made by |
| 31 | one of the following means: |
| 32 | 1. By nonforwardable, return-if-undeliverable mail to the |
| 33 | elector's current mailing address on file with the supervisor, |
| 34 | unless the elector specifies in the request that: |
| 35 | a. The elector is absent from the county and does not plan |
| 36 | to return before the day of the election; |
| 37 | b. The elector is temporarily unable to occupy the |
| 38 | residence because of hurricane, tornado, flood, fire, or other |
| 39 | emergency or natural disaster; or |
| 40 | c. The elector is in a hospital, assisted living facility, |
| 41 | nursing home, short-term medical or rehabilitation facility, or |
| 42 | correctional facility, |
| 43 | |
| 44 | in which case the supervisor shall mail the ballot by |
| 45 | nonforwardable, return-if-undeliverable mail to any other |
| 46 | address the elector specifies in the request. |
| 47 | 2. By forwardable mail, e-mail, or facsimile machine |
| 48 | transmission to absent uniformed services voters and overseas |
| 49 | voters. The absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter |
| 50 | may designate in the absentee ballot request the preferred |
| 51 | method of transmission. If the voter does not designate the |
| 52 | method of transmission, the absentee ballot shall be mailed. |
| 53 | 3. By personal delivery before 7 p.m. on election day to |
| 54 | the elector, upon presentation of the identification required in |
| 55 | s. 101.043. |
| 56 | 4. By delivery to a designee on election day or up to 5 |
| 57 | days prior to the day of an election. Any elector may designate |
| 58 | in writing a person to pick up the ballot for the elector; |
| 59 | however, the person designated may not pick up more than two |
| 60 | absentee ballots per election, other than the designee's own |
| 61 | ballot, except that additional ballots may be picked up for |
| 62 | members of the designee's immediate family. For purposes of this |
| 63 | section, "immediate family" means the designee's spouse or the |
| 64 | parent, child, grandparent, or sibling of the designee or of the |
| 65 | designee's spouse. The designee shall provide to the supervisor |
| 66 | the written authorization by the elector and a picture |
| 67 | identification of the designee and must complete an affidavit. |
| 68 | The designee shall state in the affidavit that the designee is |
| 69 | authorized by the elector to pick up that ballot and shall |
| 70 | indicate if the elector is a member of the designee's immediate |
| 71 | family and, if so, the relationship. The department shall |
| 72 | prescribe the form of the affidavit. If the supervisor is |
| 73 | satisfied that the designee is authorized to pick up the ballot |
| 74 | and that the signature of the elector on the written |
| 75 | authorization matches the signature of the elector on file, the |
| 76 | supervisor shall give the ballot to that designee for delivery |
| 77 | to the elector. |
| 78 | Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section |
| 79 | 101.68, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 80 | 101.68 Canvassing of absentee ballot.- |
| 81 | (2)(a) The county canvassing board may begin the |
| 82 | canvassing of absentee ballots at 7 a.m. on the 15th sixth day |
| 83 | before the election, but not later than noon on the day |
| 84 | following the election. In addition, for any county using |
| 85 | electronic tabulating equipment, the processing of absentee |
| 86 | ballots through such tabulating equipment may begin at 7 a.m. on |
| 87 | the 15th sixth day before the election. However, notwithstanding |
| 88 | any such authorization to begin canvassing or otherwise |
| 89 | processing absentee ballots early, no result shall be released |
| 90 | until after the closing of the polls in that county on election |
| 91 | day. Any supervisor of elections, deputy supervisor of |
| 92 | elections, canvassing board member, election board member, or |
| 93 | election employee who releases the results of a canvassing or |
| 94 | processing of absentee ballots prior to the closing of the polls |
| 95 | in that county on election day commits a felony of the third |
| 96 | degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. |
| 97 | 775.084. |
| 98 | Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |