The Florida Senate

¹98.0977  Statewide voter registration database; development and maintenance.--

(1)  From the funds appropriated, the department may contract with the Florida Association of Court Clerks to analyze, design, develop, operate, and maintain a statewide, on-line voter registration database and associated website, to be fully operational statewide by June 1, 2002. The database shall contain voter registration information from each of the 67 supervisors of elections in this state and shall be accessible through an Internet website. The system shall provide functionality for ensuring that the database is updated on a daily basis to determine if a registered voter is ineligible to vote for any of the following reasons, including, but not limited to:

(a)  The voter is deceased;

(b)  The voter has been convicted of a felony and has not had his or her civil rights restored; or

(c)  The voter has been adjudicated mentally incompetent and his or her mental capacity with respect to voting has not been restored.

The database shall also allow for duplicate voter registrations to be identified.

(2)  The Department of State shall not contract with any private entity other than the Florida Association of Court Clerks for the operation or maintenance of the statewide voter registration database.

(3)  In administering the database, each supervisor of elections shall compare registration information provided by a voter with information held by the Department of Law Enforcement, the Board of Executive Clemency, the Office of Vital Statistics, and other relevant sources. If the supervisor of elections finds information that suggests that a voter is ineligible to register to vote, the supervisor of elections shall notify the voter by certified United States mail. The notification shall contain a statement as to the reason for the voter's potential ineligibility to register to vote and shall request information from the voter on forms provided by the supervisor of elections in order to make a final determination on the voter's eligibility. After reviewing the information requested by the supervisor of elections and provided by the voter, if the supervisor of elections determines that the voter is not eligible to vote under the laws of this state, the supervisor of elections shall notify the voter by certified United States mail that he or she has been found ineligible to register to vote in this state, shall state the reason for the ineligibility, and shall inform the voter that he or she will be removed from the voter registration rolls.

(4)  To the maximum extent feasible, state and local government entities shall facilitate provision of information and access to data to the Florida Association of Court Clerks in order to compare information in the statewide voter registration database with available information in other computer databases, including, but not limited to, databases that contain reliable criminal records and records of deceased persons. State and local governmental agencies that provide such data shall do so without charge if the direct cost incurred by those agencies is not significant.

(5)  The Division of Elections shall provide written quarterly progress reports on each phase of development of the voter registration database to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives beginning July 1, 2001, and continuing until the database is fully implemented.

(6)  The duties of the supervisors of elections under this section shall be considered part of their regular registration list maintenance duties under this chapter, and any supervisor of elections who willfully refuses or willfully neglects to perform his or her duties under this section shall be in violation of s. 104.051(2).

History.--s. 70, ch. 2001-40.

¹Note.--Section 98.0975, which related to the central voter file, was repealed by s. 73, ch. 2001-40. Section 44, ch. 2001-254, amended s. 98.0975 to add subsection (5) "[i]n order to implement Specific Appropriation 2898B of the 2001-2002 General Appropriations Act." Section 98.0975(5), as enacted by s. 44, ch. 2001-254, reads:

(5)(a)  For the 2001-2002 fiscal year only and notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the division shall provide to each county supervisor of elections a list containing the name, address, date of birth, race, gender, and any other available identifying information of each person included in the central voter file as a registered voter in the supervisor's county whom the division believes may be ineligible to vote based on examination of data obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Board of Executive Clemency, the Office of Vital Statistics, or any other source that indicates that the person is deceased, has been convicted of a felony and has not had his or her civil rights restored, or has been adjudicated mentally incompetent and whose mental capacity with respect to voting has not been restored.

(b)  For the 2001-2002 fiscal year only and notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3), the division is not required to contract with a private entity to compare information.

(c)  For the 2001-2002 fiscal year only and notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (4), upon receiving the list from the division, the supervisor must attempt to verify the information provided. If the supervisor determines that the information provided by the division is correct, the supervisor must remove from the registration books by the next election the name of any person whom the supervisor confirms is deceased, has been convicted of a felony and has not had his or her civil rights restored, or has been adjudicated mentally incapacitated with respect to voting and has not had his or her mental capacity with respect to voting restored.

(d)  This subsection expires July 1, 2002.