Florida Senate - 2013                                     SB 176
       
       
       
       By Senator Diaz de la Portilla
       
       
       
       
       40-00361-13                                            2013176__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to elections; amending s. 101.657,
    3         F.S.; expanding the early voting period for elections
    4         that contain state or federal races; providing that
    5         supervisors of elections may provide early voting for
    6         no more than 14 hours per day for general election
    7         early voting; requiring supervisors of elections to
    8         submit a report to the Secretary of State at least 3
    9         months before a general election; specifying the
   10         content of the report; providing an effective date.
   11  
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section
   15  101.657, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   16         101.657 Early voting.—
   17         (1)
   18         (d) Early voting begins shall begin on the 10th day before
   19  an election that contains state or federal races and ends end on
   20  the 2nd 3rd day before the election, and must shall be provided
   21  for no less than 6 hours and no more than 12 hours per day at
   22  each site during the applicable period. For a general election,
   23  the supervisor of elections may extend early voting to no more
   24  than 14 hours per day at each site during the applicable period.
   25  The supervisor of elections may provide early voting for
   26  elections that are not held in conjunction with a state or
   27  federal election. However, the supervisor has the discretion to
   28  determine the hours of operation of early voting sites in those
   29  elections.
   30         Section 2. Each supervisor of elections must submit a
   31  report to the Secretary of State at least 3 months before a
   32  general election which outlines preparations for the upcoming
   33  general election. The report must include, at a minimum, the
   34  following elements: the anticipated staffing levels during the
   35  early voting period, on election day, and after election day,
   36  and the anticipated amount of automatic tabulating equipment at
   37  each early voting site and polling place.
   38         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.