The Florida Senate

98.045  Administration of voter registration.--

(1)  ELIGIBILITY OF APPLICANT.--The supervisor must ensure that any eligible applicant for voter registration is registered to vote and that each application for voter registration is processed in accordance with law. The supervisor shall determine whether a voter registration applicant is ineligible based on any of the following:

(a)  The failure to complete a voter registration application as specified in s. 97.053

(b)  The applicant is deceased.

(c)  The applicant has been convicted of a felony for which his or her civil rights have not been restored.

(d)  The applicant has been adjudicated mentally incapacitated with respect to the right to vote and such right has not been restored.

(e)  The applicant does not meet the age requirement pursuant to s. 97.041

(f)  The applicant is not a United States citizen.

(g)  The applicant is a fictitious person.

(h)  The applicant has provided an address of legal residence that is not his or her legal residence.

(i)  The applicant has provided a driver's license number, Florida identification card number, or the last four digits of a social security number that is not verifiable by the department.

(2)  REMOVAL OF REGISTERED VOTERS.--

(a)  Once a voter is registered, the name of that voter may not be removed from the statewide voter registration system except at the written request of the voter, by reason of the voter's conviction of a felony or adjudication as mentally incapacitated with respect to voting, by death of the voter, or pursuant to a registration list maintenance activity conducted pursuant to s. 98.065 or s. 98.075

(b)  Information received by a voter registration official from an election official in another state indicating that a registered voter in this state has registered to vote in that other state shall be considered as a written request from the voter to have the voter's name removed from the statewide voter registration system.

(3)  PUBLIC RECORDS ACCESS AND RETENTION.--Each supervisor shall maintain for at least 2 years, and make available for public inspection and copying, all records concerning implementation of registration list maintenance programs and activities conducted pursuant to ss. 98.065 and 98.075 The records must include lists of the name and address of each person to whom a notice was sent and information as to whether each such person responded to the mailing, but may not include any information that is confidential or exempt from public records requirements under this code.

(4)  STATEWIDE ELECTRONIC DATABASE OF VALID RESIDENTIAL STREET ADDRESSES.--

(a)  The department shall compile and maintain a statewide electronic database of valid residential street addresses from the information provided by the supervisors of elections pursuant to s. 98.015 The department shall evaluate the information provided by the supervisors of elections to identify any duplicate addresses and any address that may overlap county boundaries.

(b)  The department shall make the statewide database of valid street addresses available to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles as provided in s. 97.057(10). The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall use the database for purposes of validating the legal residential addresses provided in voter registration applications received by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

(5)  FORMS.--The department may prescribe by rule forms necessary to conduct maintenance of records in the statewide voter registration system.

History.--s. 26, ch. 94-224; s. 36, ch. 97-13; s. 2, ch. 2002-17; s. 7, ch. 2003-415; s. 9, ch. 2005-277; s. 18, ch. 2005-278.