Florida Senate - 2019                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SPB 7066
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì651506ÂÎ651506                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: FAV            .                                
                  03/06/2019           .                                
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       The Committee on Ethics and Elections (Rodriguez) recommended
       the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with directory and title amendments)
    2  
    3         Between lines 532 and 533
    4  insert:
    5         101.68 Canvassing of vote-by-mail ballot.—
    6         (2)
    7         (c)1. The canvassing board must, if the supervisor has not
    8  already done so, compare the signature of the elector on the
    9  voter’s certificate or on the vote-by-mail ballot cure affidavit
   10  as provided in subsection (4) with the signature of the elector
   11  in the registration books or the precinct register to see that
   12  the elector is duly registered in the county and to determine
   13  the legality of that vote-by-mail ballot. A vote-by-mail ballot
   14  may only be counted if:
   15         a. The signature on the voter’s certificate or the cure
   16  affidavit matches the elector’s signature in the registration
   17  books or precinct register; however, in the case of a cure
   18  affidavit, the supporting identification listed in subsection
   19  (4) must also confirm the identity of the elector; or
   20         b. The cure affidavit contains a signature that does not
   21  match the elector’s signature in the registration books or
   22  precinct register, but the elector has submitted a current and
   23  valid Tier 1 identification pursuant to subsection (4) which
   24  confirms the identity of the elector.
   25  
   26  For purposes of this paragraph, any canvassing board finding
   27  that signatures do not match must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
   28         2. The ballot of an elector who casts a vote-by-mail ballot
   29  shall be counted even if the elector dies on or before election
   30  day, as long as, before the death of the voter, the ballot was
   31  postmarked by the United States Postal Service, date-stamped
   32  with a verifiable tracking number by a common carrier, or
   33  already in the possession of the supervisor of elections.
   34         3. A vote-by-mail ballot is not considered illegal if the
   35  signature of the elector does not cross the seal of the mailing
   36  envelope.
   37         4. If any elector or candidate present believes that a
   38  vote-by-mail ballot is illegal due to a defect apparent on the
   39  voter’s certificate or the cure affidavit, he or she may, at any
   40  time before the ballot is removed from the envelope, file with
   41  the canvassing board a protest against the canvass of that
   42  ballot, specifying the precinct, the ballot, and the reason he
   43  or she believes the ballot to be illegal. A challenge based upon
   44  a defect in the voter’s certificate or cure affidavit may not be
   45  accepted after the ballot has been removed from the mailing
   46  envelope.
   47         5. If the canvassing board determines that a ballot is
   48  illegal, a member of the board must, without opening the
   49  envelope, mark across the face of the envelope: “rejected as
   50  illegal.” The cure affidavit, if applicable, the envelope, and
   51  the ballot therein shall be preserved in the manner that
   52  official ballots are preserved.
   53  
   54  ====== D I R E C T O R Y  C L A U S E  A M E N D M E N T ======
   55  And the directory clause is amended as follows:
   56         Delete line 495
   57  and insert:
   58         Section 9. Subsection (1), paragraphs (a) and (c) of
   59  subsection (2),
   60  
   61  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   62  And the title is amended as follows:
   63         Between lines 30 and 31
   64  insert:
   65         revising requirements related to the canvassing and
   66         counting of vote-by-mail ballots;