Florida Senate - 2014                                    SB 1516
       
       
        
       By Senator Evers
       
       
       
       
       
       2-00645-14                                            20141516__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to presidential electors; amending s.
    3         103.011, F.S.; revising the manner in which
    4         presidential electors are elected; requiring that one
    5         presidential elector be elected from each
    6         congressional district and that two additional
    7         electors be elected at large; providing for
    8         certification of electors by the Department of State;
    9         amending s. 103.021, F.S.; requiring the Governor to
   10         designate at large electors and electors who represent
   11         the respective Congressional districts, as recommended
   12         by the state executive committee of the respective
   13         political parties; amending s. 103.051, F.S.;
   14         specifying how presidential electors must cast their
   15         ballots; amending s. 103.091, F.S.; requiring the
   16         state executive committee of a political party to
   17         provide by resolution a selection method for
   18         presidential electors; providing an effective date.
   19          
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Section 103.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   23  read:
   24         103.011 Electors of President and Vice President.—Electors
   25  of President and Vice President, known as presidential electors,
   26  shall be elected on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in
   27  November of each year the number of which is a multiple of 4.
   28  Votes cast for the actual candidates for President and Vice
   29  President shall be counted as votes cast for the presidential
   30  electors supporting such candidates. One presidential elector
   31  shall be elected from each congressional district and two
   32  additional presidential electors shall be elected at large. The
   33  Department of State shall certify as elected:
   34         (a) The two presidential electors at large of the
   35  candidates for President and Vice President who receive the
   36  highest number of votes in a majority of the congressional
   37  districts; and
   38         (b) The presidential elector nominated and designated as
   39  representing a congressional district who receives the highest
   40  number of votes in his or her respective congressional district.
   41         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 103.021, Florida
   42  Statutes, is amended to read:
   43         103.021 Nomination for presidential electors.—Candidates
   44  for presidential electors shall be nominated in the following
   45  manner:
   46         (1) The Governor shall nominate the presidential electors
   47  of each political party. The state executive committee of each
   48  political party shall by resolution recommend candidates for
   49  presidential electors by resolution and shall deliver a
   50  certified copy of the resolution thereof to the Governor before
   51  September 1 of each presidential election year. The Governor
   52  shall nominate and designate as at large or by congressional
   53  district only the electors recommended by resolution of by the
   54  state executive committee of the respective political parties
   55  party. Each such elector must shall be a qualified elector of
   56  the party he or she represents and must have who has taken an
   57  oath that he or she will vote for the candidates of the party
   58  that he or she is nominated to represent. On or before September
   59  1 of each presidential election year, the Governor shall certify
   60  to the Department of State on or before September 1, in each
   61  presidential election year, the names of the a number of
   62  electors for each political party equal to the number of
   63  senators and representatives that which this state has in
   64  Congress and shall indicate which electors are at large and
   65  which electors are for each congressional district.
   66         Section 3. Section 103.051, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   67  read:
   68         103.051 Congress sets meeting dates of electors.—The
   69  presidential electors shall, on the day that is directed by
   70  Congress and at the time fixed by the Governor, meet at
   71  Tallahassee and perform the duties required of them by the
   72  Constitution and laws of the United States. The presidential
   73  electors at large shall cast their ballots for the candidates
   74  for President and Vice President who received the highest number
   75  of votes in a majority of the congressional districts. The
   76  presidential electors designated for each of the congressional
   77  districts shall cast their ballot for the candidates for
   78  President and Vice President who received the highest number of
   79  votes in their respective congressional district.
   80         Section 4. Subsection (2) of section 103.091, Florida
   81  Statutes, is amended to read:
   82         103.091 Political parties.—
   83         (2) The state executive committee of a political party may
   84  by resolution provide a method of election of national
   85  committeemen and national committeewomen and shall by resolution
   86  provide a method of selection nomination of presidential
   87  electors, if such party is entitled to a place on the ballot as
   88  otherwise provided for presidential electors, and also may
   89  provide also for the election of delegates and alternates to
   90  national conventions.
   91         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.