Florida 2025 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0051 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	HB 51 2025
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7	CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
8	8	hb51-00
9	9	Page 1 of 6
10	10	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
11	11
12	12
13	13
14	14	A bill to be entitled 1
15	15	An act relating to elections; amending s. 99.061, 2
16	16	F.S.; requiring write -in candidates to pay certain 3
17	17	fees; amending ss. 99.092 and 105.031, F.S.; 4
18	18	conforming provisions to changes made by this act; 5
19	19	creating s. 100.012, F.S.; prohibiting a write -in 6
20	20	candidate from being considered an opponent for 7
21	21	certain purposes; amending s. 101.015, F.S.; requiring 8
22	22	the Department of State to adopt rules for security of 9
23	23	voting systems; requiring such rules to prohibit 10
24	24	connection to the Internet; amending s. 101.5604, 11
25	25	F.S.; authorizing counties to count ballots by hand at 12
26	26	the precinct level; providing an effective date. 13
27	27	14
28	28	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida : 15
29	29	16
30	30	Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 99.061, Florida 17
31	31	Statutes, is amended to read: 18
32	32	99.061 Method of qualifying for nomination or election to 19
33	33	federal, state, county, or district office. — 20
34	34	(4)(a) Each person seeking to qualify for election to 21
35	35	office as a write-in candidate shall file his or her 22
36	36	qualification papers with the respective qualifying officer at 23
37	37	any time after noon of the 1st day for qualifying, but not later 24
38	38	than noon of the last day of the qualifying period for the 25
39	39
40	40	HB 51 2025
41	41
42	42
43	43
44	44	CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
45	45	hb51-00
46	46	Page 2 of 6
47	47	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
48	48
49	49
50	50
51	51	office sought. 26
52	52	(b) Any person who is seeking election as a write -in 27
53	53	candidate shall not be required to pay a filing fee, election 28
54	54	assessment, or party assessment. A write-in candidate is not 29
55	55	entitled to have his or her name printed on any ballot; however, 30
56	56	space for the write-in candidate's name to be written in must be 31
57	57	provided on the general election ballot. A person may not 32
58	58	qualify as a write-in candidate if the person has also otherwise 33
59	59	qualified for nomination or election to such office. 34
60	60	Section 2. Subsection (1) of s ection 99.092, Florida 35
61	61	Statutes, is amended to read: 36
62	62	99.092 Qualifying fee of candidate; notification of 37
63	63	Department of State. — 38
64	64	(1) Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or 39
65	65	election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify by 40
66	66	the petition process pursuant to s. 99.095 and except a person 41
67	67	seeking to qualify as a write -in candidate, shall pay a 42
68	68	qualifying fee, which shall consist of a filing fee and election 43
69	69	assessment, to the officer with whom the person qualifies, and 44
70	70	any party assessment levied, and shall attach the original or 45
71	71	signed duplicate of the receipt for his or her party assessment 46
72	72	or pay the same, in accordance with the provisions of s. 47
73	73	103.121, at the time of filing his or her other qualifying 48
74	74	papers. The amount of the filing fee is 3 percent of the annual 49
75	75	salary of the office. The amount of the election assessment is 1 50
76	76
77	77	HB 51 2025
78	78
79	79
80	80
81	81	CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
82	82	hb51-00
83	83	Page 3 of 6
84	84	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
85	85
86	86
87	87
88	88	percent of the annual salary of the office sought. The election 51
89	89	assessment shall be transferred to the Elections Commission 52
90	90	Trust Fund. The amount of the party assessment is 2 percent of 53
91	91	the annual salary. The annual salary of the office for purposes 54
92	92	of computing the filing fee, election assessment, and party 55
93	93	assessment shall be computed by multiplying 12 times the monthly 56
94	94	salary, excluding any special qualificat ion pay, authorized for 57
95	95	such office as of July 1 immediately preceding the first day of 58
96	96	qualifying. No qualifying fee shall be returned to the candidate 59
97	97	unless the candidate withdraws his or her candidacy before the 60
98	98	last date to qualify. If a candidate die s prior to an election 61
99	99	and has not withdrawn his or her candidacy before the last date 62
100	100	to qualify, the candidate's qualifying fee shall be returned to 63
101	101	his or her designated beneficiary, and, if the filing fee or any 64
102	102	portion thereof has been transferred to the political party of 65
103	103	the candidate, the Secretary of State shall direct the party to 66
104	104	return that portion to the designated beneficiary of the 67
105	105	candidate. 68
106	106	Section 3. Subsection (3) of section 105.031, Florida 69
107	107	Statutes, is amended to read: 70
108	108	105.031 Qualification; filing fee; candidate's oath; items 71
109	109	required to be filed. — 72
110	110	(3) QUALIFYING FEE. —Each candidate qualifying for election 73
111	111	to a judicial office or the office of school board member , 74
112	112	except write-in judicial or school board candidates, shall, 75
113	113
114	114	HB 51 2025
115	115
116	116
117	117
118	118	CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
119	119	hb51-00
120	120	Page 4 of 6
121	121	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
122	122
123	123
124	124
125	125	during the time for qualifying, pay to the officer with whom he 76
126	126	or she qualifies a qualifying fee, which shall consist of a 77
127	127	filing fee and an election assessment, or qualify by the 78
128	128	petition process. The amount of the filing fee is 3 percent of 79
129	129	the annual salary of the office sought. The amount of the 80
130	130	election assessment is 1 percent of the annual salary of the 81
131	131	office sought. The Department of State shall transfer all filing 82
132	132	fees to the Department of Legal Affairs for deposit in the 83
133	133	Elections Commission Trust Fun d. The supervisor of elections 84
134	134	shall forward all filing fees to the Elections Commission Trust 85
135	135	Fund. The election assessment shall be deposited into the 86
136	136	Elections Commission Trust Fund. The annual salary of the office 87
137	137	for purposes of computing the qualifyi ng fee shall be computed 88
138	138	by multiplying 12 times the monthly salary authorized for such 89
139	139	office as of July 1 immediately preceding the first day of 90
140	140	qualifying. This subsection does not apply to candidates 91
141	141	qualifying for retention to judicial office. 92
142	142	Section 4. Section 100.012, Florida Statutes, is created 93
143	143	to read: 94
144	144	100.012 Determination of opposition in a general 95
145	145	election.—For purposes of implementing s. 5(b), Art. VI of the 96
146	146	State Constitution, a write -in candidate may not be considered 97
147	147	to be an opponent. 98
148	148	Section 5. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subsection (1) of 99
149	149	section 101.015, Florida Statutes, are amended, and paragraph 100
150	150
151	151	HB 51 2025
152	152
153	153
154	154
155	155	CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
156	156	hb51-00
157	157	Page 5 of 6
158	158	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
159	159
160	160
161	161
162	162	(f) is added to that subsection to read: 101
163	163	101.015 Standards for voting systems. — 102
164	164	(1) The Department of State shall adopt rules which 103
165	165	establish minimum standards for hardware and software for 104
166	166	electronic and electromechanical voting systems. Such rules 105
167	167	shall contain standards for: 106
168	168	(d) Documentation requirements; and 107
169	169	(e) Evaluation criteria ; and. 108
170	170	(f) Security, including a requi rement that voting systems 109
171	171	may not connect to the Internet. 110
172	172	Section 6. Section 101.5604, Florida Statutes, is amended 111
173	173	to read: 112
174	174	101.5604 Adoption of system; procurement of equipment; 113
175	175	commercial tabulations. —The board of county commissioners of any 114
176	176	county, at any regular meeting or a special meeting called for 115
177	177	the purpose, may, upon consultation with the supervisor of 116
178	178	elections, adopt, purchase or otherwise procure, and provide for 117
179	179	the use of any electronic or electromechanical voting system 118
180	180	approved by the Department of State in all or a portion of the 119
181	181	election precincts of that county. Thereafter the electronic or 120
182	182	electromechanical voting system may be used for voting at all 121
183	183	elections for public and party offices and on all measures and 122
184	184	for receiving, registering, and counting the votes thereof in 123
185	185	such election precincts as the governing body directs. A county 124
186	186	may must use an electronic or electromechanical precinct -count 125
187	187
188	188	HB 51 2025
189	189
190	190
191	191
192	192	CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
193	193	hb51-00
194	194	Page 6 of 6
195	195	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
196	196
197	197
198	198
199	199	tabulation voting system or may count ballots by hand at the 126
200	200	precinct level. 127
201	201	Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 128