HB 813

1
A bill to be entitled
2An act relating to elections; amending s. 101.591, F.S.;
3providing circumstances under which a voting system audit
4is not required to be conducted; amending s. 101.62, F.S.;
5deleting certain required justifications for a supervisor
6to send an absentee ballot to an alternative address;
7amending s. 101.68, F.S.; increasing the number of days
8before an election that a county canvassing board may
9begin canvassing absentee ballots and processing absentee
10ballots when electronic tabulating equipment is used;  
11providing an effective date.
12
13Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15     Section 1.  Subsection (1) of section 101.591, Florida
16Statutes, is amended to read:
17     101.591  Voting system audit.-
18     (1)  Immediately following the certification of each
19election, the county canvassing board or the local board
20responsible for certifying the election shall conduct a manual
21audit of the voting systems used in randomly selected precincts.
22However, if a manual recount was conducted pursuant to s.
23102.166, it is not necessary to conduct a manual audit of the
24voting system.
25     Section 2.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section
26101.62, 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
30each elector by whom a request for that ballot has been made by
31one of the following means:
32     1.  By nonforwardable, return-if-undeliverable mail to the
33elector's current mailing address on file with the supervisor,
34unless the elector specifies in the request that:
35     a.  The elector is absent from the county and does not plan
36to return before the day of the election;
37     b.  The elector is temporarily unable to occupy the
38residence because of hurricane, tornado, flood, fire, or other
39emergency or natural disaster; or
40     c.  The elector is in a hospital, assisted living facility,
41nursing home, short-term medical or rehabilitation facility, or
42correctional facility,
43
44in which case the supervisor shall mail the ballot by
45nonforwardable, return-if-undeliverable mail to any other
46address the elector specifies in the request.
47     2.  By forwardable mail, e-mail, or facsimile machine
48transmission to absent uniformed services voters and overseas
49voters. The absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter
50may designate in the absentee ballot request the preferred
51method of transmission. If the voter does not designate the
52method of transmission, the absentee ballot shall be mailed.
53     3.  By personal delivery before 7 p.m. on election day to
54the elector, upon presentation of the identification required in
55s. 101.043.
56     4.  By delivery to a designee on election day or up to 5
57days prior to the day of an election. Any elector may designate
58in writing a person to pick up the ballot for the elector;
59however, the person designated may not pick up more than two
60absentee ballots per election, other than the designee's own
61ballot, except that additional ballots may be picked up for
62members of the designee's immediate family. For purposes of this
63section, "immediate family" means the designee's spouse or the
64parent, child, grandparent, or sibling of the designee or of the
65designee's spouse. The designee shall provide to the supervisor
66the written authorization by the elector and a picture
67identification of the designee and must complete an affidavit.
68The designee shall state in the affidavit that the designee is
69authorized by the elector to pick up that ballot and shall
70indicate if the elector is a member of the designee's immediate
71family and, if so, the relationship. The department shall
72prescribe the form of the affidavit. If the supervisor is
73satisfied that the designee is authorized to pick up the ballot
74and that the signature of the elector on the written
75authorization matches the signature of the elector on file, the
76supervisor shall give the ballot to that designee for delivery
77to the elector.
78     Section 3.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section
79101.68, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
80     101.68  Canvassing of absentee ballot.-
81     (2)(a)  The county canvassing board may begin the
82canvassing of absentee ballots at 7 a.m. on the 15th sixth day
83before the election, but not later than noon on the day
84following the election. In addition, for any county using
85electronic tabulating equipment, the processing of absentee
86ballots through such tabulating equipment may begin at 7 a.m. on
87the 15th sixth day before the election. However, notwithstanding
88any such authorization to begin canvassing or otherwise
89processing absentee ballots early, no result shall be released
90until after the closing of the polls in that county on election
91day. Any supervisor of elections, deputy supervisor of
92elections, canvassing board member, election board member, or
93election employee who releases the results of a canvassing or
94processing of absentee ballots prior to the closing of the polls
95in that county on election day commits a felony of the third
96degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
97775.084.
98     Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.