Florida 2025 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0051 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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1010 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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1414 A bill to be entitled 1
1515 An act relating to elections; amending s. 99.061, 2
1616 F.S.; requiring write -in candidates to pay certain 3
1717 fees; amending ss. 99.092 and 105.031, F.S.; 4
1818 conforming provisions to changes made by this act; 5
1919 creating s. 100.012, F.S.; prohibiting a write -in 6
2020 candidate from being considered an opponent for 7
2121 certain purposes; amending s. 101.015, F.S.; requiring 8
2222 the Department of State to adopt rules for security of 9
2323 voting systems; requiring such rules to prohibit 10
2424 connection to the Internet; amending s. 101.5604, 11
2525 F.S.; authorizing counties to count ballots by hand at 12
2626 the precinct level; providing an effective date. 13
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2828 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida : 15
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3030 Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 99.061, Florida 17
3131 Statutes, is amended to read: 18
3232 99.061 Method of qualifying for nomination or election to 19
3333 federal, state, county, or district office. — 20
3434 (4)(a) Each person seeking to qualify for election to 21
3535 office as a write-in candidate shall file his or her 22
3636 qualification papers with the respective qualifying officer at 23
3737 any time after noon of the 1st day for qualifying, but not later 24
3838 than noon of the last day of the qualifying period for the 25
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4747 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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5151 office sought. 26
5252 (b) Any person who is seeking election as a write -in 27
5353 candidate shall not be required to pay a filing fee, election 28
5454 assessment, or party assessment. A write-in candidate is not 29
5555 entitled to have his or her name printed on any ballot; however, 30
5656 space for the write-in candidate's name to be written in must be 31
5757 provided on the general election ballot. A person may not 32
5858 qualify as a write-in candidate if the person has also otherwise 33
5959 qualified for nomination or election to such office. 34
6060 Section 2. Subsection (1) of s ection 99.092, Florida 35
6161 Statutes, is amended to read: 36
6262 99.092 Qualifying fee of candidate; notification of 37
6363 Department of State. — 38
6464 (1) Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or 39
6565 election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify by 40
6666 the petition process pursuant to s. 99.095 and except a person 41
6767 seeking to qualify as a write -in candidate, shall pay a 42
6868 qualifying fee, which shall consist of a filing fee and election 43
6969 assessment, to the officer with whom the person qualifies, and 44
7070 any party assessment levied, and shall attach the original or 45
7171 signed duplicate of the receipt for his or her party assessment 46
7272 or pay the same, in accordance with the provisions of s. 47
7373 103.121, at the time of filing his or her other qualifying 48
7474 papers. The amount of the filing fee is 3 percent of the annual 49
7575 salary of the office. The amount of the election assessment is 1 50
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8484 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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8888 percent of the annual salary of the office sought. The election 51
8989 assessment shall be transferred to the Elections Commission 52
9090 Trust Fund. The amount of the party assessment is 2 percent of 53
9191 the annual salary. The annual salary of the office for purposes 54
9292 of computing the filing fee, election assessment, and party 55
9393 assessment shall be computed by multiplying 12 times the monthly 56
9494 salary, excluding any special qualificat ion pay, authorized for 57
9595 such office as of July 1 immediately preceding the first day of 58
9696 qualifying. No qualifying fee shall be returned to the candidate 59
9797 unless the candidate withdraws his or her candidacy before the 60
9898 last date to qualify. If a candidate die s prior to an election 61
9999 and has not withdrawn his or her candidacy before the last date 62
100100 to qualify, the candidate's qualifying fee shall be returned to 63
101101 his or her designated beneficiary, and, if the filing fee or any 64
102102 portion thereof has been transferred to the political party of 65
103103 the candidate, the Secretary of State shall direct the party to 66
104104 return that portion to the designated beneficiary of the 67
105105 candidate. 68
106106 Section 3. Subsection (3) of section 105.031, Florida 69
107107 Statutes, is amended to read: 70
108108 105.031 Qualification; filing fee; candidate's oath; items 71
109109 required to be filed. — 72
110110 (3) QUALIFYING FEE. —Each candidate qualifying for election 73
111111 to a judicial office or the office of school board member , 74
112112 except write-in judicial or school board candidates, shall, 75
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121121 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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125125 during the time for qualifying, pay to the officer with whom he 76
126126 or she qualifies a qualifying fee, which shall consist of a 77
127127 filing fee and an election assessment, or qualify by the 78
128128 petition process. The amount of the filing fee is 3 percent of 79
129129 the annual salary of the office sought. The amount of the 80
130130 election assessment is 1 percent of the annual salary of the 81
131131 office sought. The Department of State shall transfer all filing 82
132132 fees to the Department of Legal Affairs for deposit in the 83
133133 Elections Commission Trust Fun d. The supervisor of elections 84
134134 shall forward all filing fees to the Elections Commission Trust 85
135135 Fund. The election assessment shall be deposited into the 86
136136 Elections Commission Trust Fund. The annual salary of the office 87
137137 for purposes of computing the qualifyi ng fee shall be computed 88
138138 by multiplying 12 times the monthly salary authorized for such 89
139139 office as of July 1 immediately preceding the first day of 90
140140 qualifying. This subsection does not apply to candidates 91
141141 qualifying for retention to judicial office. 92
142142 Section 4. Section 100.012, Florida Statutes, is created 93
143143 to read: 94
144144 100.012 Determination of opposition in a general 95
145145 election.—For purposes of implementing s. 5(b), Art. VI of the 96
146146 State Constitution, a write -in candidate may not be considered 97
147147 to be an opponent. 98
148148 Section 5. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subsection (1) of 99
149149 section 101.015, Florida Statutes, are amended, and paragraph 100
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158158 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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162162 (f) is added to that subsection to read: 101
163163 101.015 Standards for voting systems. — 102
164164 (1) The Department of State shall adopt rules which 103
165165 establish minimum standards for hardware and software for 104
166166 electronic and electromechanical voting systems. Such rules 105
167167 shall contain standards for: 106
168168 (d) Documentation requirements; and 107
169169 (e) Evaluation criteria ; and. 108
170170 (f) Security, including a requi rement that voting systems 109
171171 may not connect to the Internet. 110
172172 Section 6. Section 101.5604, Florida Statutes, is amended 111
173173 to read: 112
174174 101.5604 Adoption of system; procurement of equipment; 113
175175 commercial tabulations. —The board of county commissioners of any 114
176176 county, at any regular meeting or a special meeting called for 115
177177 the purpose, may, upon consultation with the supervisor of 116
178178 elections, adopt, purchase or otherwise procure, and provide for 117
179179 the use of any electronic or electromechanical voting system 118
180180 approved by the Department of State in all or a portion of the 119
181181 election precincts of that county. Thereafter the electronic or 120
182182 electromechanical voting system may be used for voting at all 121
183183 elections for public and party offices and on all measures and 122
184184 for receiving, registering, and counting the votes thereof in 123
185185 such election precincts as the governing body directs. A county 124
186186 may must use an electronic or electromechanical precinct -count 125
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195195 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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199199 tabulation voting system or may count ballots by hand at the 126
200200 precinct level. 127
201201 Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 128