Bill Text: FL S1372 | 2020 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Elections
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)
Status: (Failed) 2020-03-14 - Died in Rules [S1372 Detail]
Download: Florida-2020-S1372-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Elections
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)
Status: (Failed) 2020-03-14 - Died in Rules [S1372 Detail]
Download: Florida-2020-S1372-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2020 CS for SB 1372 By the Committee on Ethics and Elections; and Senator Brandes 582-03042-20 20201372c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to elections; amending s. 101.043, 3 F.S.; deleting a provision that prohibits the use of 4 an address appearing on identification presented by an 5 elector at the polls as a basis to confirm an 6 elector’s legal residence; amending s. 101.131, F.S.; 7 revising requirements for eligibility to serve as a 8 poll watcher; amending s. 101.5612, F.S.; revising the 9 timeframes for conducting public preelection testing 10 of automatic tabulating equipment; amending s. 11 101.5614, F.S.; removing the requirement that 12 duplicate ballots be made of vote-by-mail ballots 13 containing overvoted races; amending s. 101.6103, 14 F.S.; revising the timeframe in which the supervisor 15 of elections must mail ballots in elections conducted 16 under the Mail Ballot Election Act; amending s. 17 103.091, F.S.; authorizing a qualifying office to 18 accept and hold qualifying papers for candidates for 19 political party executive committees before the 20 beginning of the qualifying period; amending s. 21 106.08, F.S.; preempting counties, municipalities, and 22 other local governmental entities from enacting or 23 adopting any limitation or restriction involving 24 certain contributions and expenditures; providing an 25 effective date. 26 27 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 28 29 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 30 101.043, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 31 101.043 Identification required at polls.— 32 (1) 33 (b) If the picture identification does not contain the 34 signature of the elector, an additional identification that 35 provides the elector’s signature shall be required. The address 36 appearing on the identification presented by the elector may not 37 be used as the basis toconfirm an elector’s legal residence or38otherwisechallenge an elector’s legal residence. The elector 39 shall sign his or her name in the space provided on the precinct 40 register or on an electronic device provided for recording the 41 elector’s signature. The clerk or inspector shall compare the 42 signature with that on the identification provided by the 43 elector and enter his or her initials in the space provided on 44 the precinct register or on an electronic device provided for 45 that purpose and allow the elector to vote if the clerk or 46 inspector is satisfied as to the identity of the elector. 47 Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 101.131, Florida 48 Statutes, is amended to read: 49 101.131 Watchers at polls.— 50 (1) Each political party and each candidate may have one 51 watcher in each polling room or early voting area at any one 52 time during the election. A political committee formed for the 53 specific purpose of expressly advocating the passage or defeat 54 of an issue on the ballot may have one watcher for each polling 55 room or early voting area at any one time during the election. A 56Nowatcher may notshall be permitted tocome closer to the 57 officials’ table or the voting booths than is reasonably 58 necessary to properly perform his or her functions, but iseach59shall beallowed within the polling room or early voting area to 60 watch and observe the conduct of electors and officials. The 61 poll watchers shall furnish their own materials and necessities 62 and mayshallnot obstruct the orderly conduct of any election. 63 The poll watchers shall pose any questions regarding polling 64 place procedures directly to the clerk for resolution. They may 65 not interact with voters. Each poll watcher mustshallbe a 66 qualified and registered elector of this statethe county in67which he or she serves. 68 Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 101.5612, Florida 69 Statutes, is amended to read: 70 101.5612 Testing of tabulating equipment.— 71 (2) On any day not more than 2510days beforeprior tothe 72 commencement of early voting as provided in s. 101.657, the 73 supervisor of elections shall have the automatic tabulating 74 equipment publicly tested to ascertain that the equipment will 75 correctly count the votes cast for all offices and on all 76 measures. If the ballots to be used at the polling place on 77 election day are not available at the time of the testing, the 78 supervisor may conduct an additional test not more than 10 days 79 before election day. Public notice of the time and place of the 80 test shall be given at least 48 hours prior thereto by 81 publication on the supervisor of elections’ website and once in 82 one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county or, 83 if there is no newspaper of general circulation in the county, 84 by posting the notice in at least four conspicuous places in the 85 county. The supervisor or the municipal elections official may, 86 at the time of qualifying, give written notice of the time and 87 location of the public preelection test to each candidate 88 qualifying with that office and obtain a signed receipt that the 89 notice has been given. The Department of State shall give 90 written notice to each statewide candidate at the time of 91 qualifying, or immediately at the end of qualifying, that the 92 voting equipment will be tested and advise each candidate to 93 contact the county supervisor of elections as to the time and 94 location of the public preelection test. The supervisor or the 95 municipal elections official shall, at least 3015days before 96prior tothe commencement of early voting as provided in s. 97 101.657, send written notice by certified mail to the county 98 party chair of each political party and to all candidates for 99 other than statewide office whose names appear on the ballot in 100 the county and who did not receive written notification from the 101 supervisor or municipal elections official at the time of 102 qualifying, stating the time and location of the public 103 preelection test of the automatic tabulating equipment. The 104 canvassing board shall convene, and each member of the 105 canvassing board shall certify to the accuracy of the test. For 106 the test, the canvassing board may designate one member to 107 represent it. The test shall be open to representatives of the 108 political parties, the press, and the public. Each political 109 party may designate one person with expertise in the computer 110 field who shall be allowed in the central counting room when all 111 tests are being conducted and when the official votes are being 112 counted. The designee shall not interfere with the normal 113 operation of the canvassing board. 114 Section 4. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section 115 101.5614, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 116 101.5614 Canvass of returns.— 117 (4)(a) If any vote-by-mail ballot is physically damaged so 118 that it cannot properly be counted by the automatic tabulating 119 equipment, a true duplicate copy shall be made of the damaged 120 ballot in the presence of witnesses and substituted for the 121 damaged ballot.Likewise,A duplicate ballot must alsoshallbe 122 made ofa vote-by-mail ballot containing an overvoted raceora 123 marked vote-by-mail ballot in which every race is undervoted, 124 includingwhichshall includeall valid votes as determined by 125 the canvassing board based on rules adopted by the division 126 pursuant to s. 102.166(4). Upon request, a physically present 127 candidate, a political party official, a political committee 128 official, or an authorized designee thereof, must be allowed to 129 observe the duplication of ballots. All duplicate ballots shall 130 be clearly labeled “duplicate,” bear a serial number which shall 131 be recorded on the defective ballot, and be counted in lieu of 132 the defective ballot. After a ballot has been duplicated, the 133 defective ballot shall be placed in an envelope provided for 134 that purpose, and the duplicate ballot shall be tallied with the 135 other ballots for that precinct. 136 Section 5. Subsection (1) of section 101.6103, Florida 137 Statutes, is amended to read: 138 101.6103 Mail ballot election procedure.— 139 (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7), the 140 supervisor of elections shall mail all official ballots with a 141 secrecy envelope, a return mailing envelope, and instructions 142 sufficient to describe the voting process to each elector 143 entitled to vote in the election not sooner than the 40th20th144 day before the election and not later than the 10th day before 145 the date of the election. All such ballots shall be mailed by 146 first-class mail. Ballots shall be addressed to each elector at 147 the address appearing in the registration records and placed in 148 an envelope which is prominently marked “Do Not Forward.” 149 Section 6. Subsection (4) of section 103.091, Florida 150 Statutes, is amended to read: 151 103.091 Political parties.— 152 (4) Any political party other than a minor political party 153 may by rule provide for the membership of its state or county 154 executive committee to be elected for 4-year terms at the 155 primary election in each year a presidential election is held. 156 The terms beginshall commenceon the first day of the month 157 following each presidential general election,;but the names of 158 candidates for political party offices mayshallnot be placed 159 on the ballot at any other election. The results of such 160 election shall be determined by a plurality of the votes cast. 161 In such event, electors seeking to qualify for such office shall 162 do so with the Department of State or supervisor of elections no 163notearlier than noon of the 71st day, or later than noon of the 164 67th day, preceding the primary election. Notwithstanding the 165 qualifying period prescribed in this subsection, a qualifying 166 office may accept and hold qualifying papers submitted no 167 earlier than 14 days before the beginning of the qualifying 168 period, to be processed and filed during the qualifying period. 169 The outgoing chair of each county executive committee shall, 170 within 30 days after the committee members take office, hold an 171 organizational meeting of all newly elected members for the 172 purpose of electing officers. The chair of each state executive 173 committee shall, within 60 days after the committee members take 174 office, hold an organizational meeting of all newly elected 175 members for the purpose of electing officers. 176 Section 7. Subsection (11) is added to section 106.08, 177 Florida Statutes, to read: 178 106.08 Contributions; limitations on; preemption.— 179 (11) A county, a municipality, or any other local 180 governmental entity is expressly preempted from enacting or 181 adopting any limitation or restriction involving: 182 (a) Contributions to a political committee or an 183 electioneering communications organization. 184 (b) Expenditures for an electioneering communication or an 185 independent expenditure. 186 Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.