Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition; Submission Deadline; Signature Verification

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Division of Elections

RULE NO: RULE TITLE
1S-2.0091: Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition; Submission Deadline; Signature Verification

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 36 No. 17, April 30, 2010 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

The changes have been made in response to written comments submitted by the staff of the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee and the provider of information technology services to the supervisors of elections.

1. Subsection (2)(a)3. shall now read:

3.4. Had not ever previously signed a petition form containing the identical initiative which had been verified as valid.

2. Subsection (2)(b) shall now read:

(b) The Supervisor shall not verify as valid a signature on an initiative petition form unless all of the following information is contained on the petition form:

1. The voter’s name,

2. The voter’s residential street address (including city and county),

3. The voter’s date of birth or voter registration number,

4. The voter’s original signature, and

5. The date the voter signed the petition, as recorded by the voter.

3. Subsections (6) and (7) shall now read:

(6)(7) Limitation on Use of Verified Signatures. Verified signatures used successfully to place a proposed amendment by initiative on the ballot that subsequently fails to be approved by the electors at the general election shall not be used again in support of any future identical initiative petition. An identical initiative petition means an initiative petition that is circulated on an initiative petition form which contains the same serial number assigned to it pursuant to Rule 1S-2.009, F.A.C.

(7) Nothing in this rule prohibits a voter from signing a successive initiative petition form containing the text of a former petition if the successive petition form has a different serial number assigned to it pursuant to Rule 1S-2.009, F.A.C.