This rule establishes file format specifications, timelines and other content requirements for the electronic compilation, transmission, and reporting of election results, precinct-level election results, voting history, and reconciliation of the ...

 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Division of Elections

RULE NO.:RULE TITLE:

1S-2.053Election Results and Precinct-Level Reporting

PURPOSE AND EFFECT: This rule establishes file format specifications, timelines and other content requirements for the electronic compilation, transmission, and reporting of election results, precinct-level election results, voting history, and reconciliation of the aggregate total of ballots cast with the voter history.

SUMMARY: This rule relates to elections and electronic file reporting by the supervisors of elections.

SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION: The Agency has determined that this will not have an adverse impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the Agency.

The Agency has determined that the proposed rule is not expected to require legislative ratification based on the statement of estimated regulatory costs or if no SERC is required, the information expressly relied upon and described herein: Legislative ratification will not be required pursuant to Section 120.541(3), F.S. Based on a checklist completed by the Agency, this rule will not have an adverse effect on businesses or private-sector economic growth, job-creation, employment or investment; nor will it increase regulatory costs in excess of the threshold mandating legislative ratification. No other statute requires legislative ratification for this rule.

Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY: 20.10(3), 97.012(1), 98.0981(5), 101.141(4) and (10) FS.

LAW IMPLEMENTED: 98.0981, 102.141 FS.

IF REQUESTED WITHIN 21 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THIS NOTICE, A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW (IF NOT REQUESTED, THIS HEARING WILL NOT BE HELD):

DATE AND TIME: August 19, 201, 11:00 a.m.

PLACE: R.A. Gray Building, Department of State, 500 S. Bronough Street, Room 307, Tallahassee, Florida 32399

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this workshop/meeting is asked to advise the agency at least 3 days before the workshop/meeting by contacting: Brandy Hedges at [e-mail] or [phone]. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the agency using the Florida Relay Service, 1(800)955-8771 (TDD) or 1(800)955-8770 (Voice).

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Lydia Strom, Assistant General Counsel, at [e-mail] or [phone]

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

 

1S-2.053 Election Results, Precinct-Level Election Results, Voting History, and Reconciliation Reporting.

(1) General provisions.

(a) This rule establishes file format specifications, timelines and other content requirements for the electronic compilation, transmission, and reporting of:

1. Election results,

2. Precinct-level election results,

3. Voting history, and

4. Reconciliation between the elections results and voting history.

(b) The Supervisors of Elections must ensure that the files required under this rule are created or converted into the prescribed format and that the files are transmitted successfully and timely to the Division of Elections.

(c) This rule does not apply to municipal, local referendum, or special district elections.

(2) Definitions. For purposes of this rule:

(a) “All ballots cast” means ballots cast and counted by the voting tabulation system whether at a precinct location, by absentee ballot including overseas absentee ballots, during the early voting period, or by provisional ballot.

(b) “Supervisor” refers to the county Supervisor of Elections.

(c) “Division” refers to the Division of Elections.

(d) “Election” means primary and general elections (held in even-numbered years), presidential preference primary elections, and special primary and special elections held pursuant to Section 100.101, F.S.

(3) Election results reporting.

(a) Compilation. For each election as defined in subsection (2), the Supervisor shall use the supplemental export utility for the county’s voting system to create the summary election results in an XML format as set forth in paragraph (c). If a supplemental export utility has not been created for the voting system used by the county, then the county can use the voting system’s export function to create the summary election results.

(b) Transmission. After the polls close on the day of the election, the county canvassing board shall transmit the summary election results to the Division at the times set forth in s. 102.141, F.S., by entering the results at the Division’s secure website or uploading the file via the Division’s enight SOE web service after obtaining user credentials from the Division.

(c) XML File specifications. The specifications for reporting election results are defined in DS-DE 137-S (eff. 07/2015) (insert hyperlink), entitled, “Florida Election Results Summary XML Schema Reference, Version 3.0-S.” The election results shall be reported in the XML format as specified in DS-DE 138-S.xsd (eff. 07/2015) (insert hyperlink).”

(4) Elections results database export file.

(a) Compilation. For each election as defined in subsection (2), the Supervisor shall use the file export function in the county’s voting system to create a file that includes the results from the database of the county’s voting system used in the election.

(b) Transmission. The Supervisor shall file with the Division a copy of the results export file for the applicable election by transmitting the file at the same time that the official results of the election are certified. The file shall be transmitted using the Division’s SOE File Transfer Utility website. If the site is not available, then the file may be uploaded to the Division’s secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) or emailed to: [e-mail].

(5) Precinct-level election results reports.

(a) Compilation.

1. For each election as defined in subsection (2), the Supervisor shall use the supplemental export utility for the county’s voting system to create the precinct-level results in the prescribed format. If a supplemental export utility has not been created for the voting system used by the county, then the county can use the voting system’s export function to create the precinct-level results.

2. The Supervisor shall aggregate and record for each precinct the total number of ballots cast by all voters voting in the election, with subtotals for each candidate and ballot type. If a precinct has a subtotal of one to nine votes, the Supervisor shall report zero votes in all subtotals except in the “Total Votes” group for that precinct.

3. For results unable to be transmitted in XML format, the county must transmit the tab-delimited text file prescribed in Section 98.0981, F.S. The Division will supply the county with any additional data needed to create the file in this format.

(b) Transmission. The Supervisor shall electronically transmit the precinct-level election results file to the Division no later than noon local time for the Supervisor’s office on the 30th day after certification of the election by the Elections Canvassing Commission. The file shall be transmitted using the Division’s SOE File Transfer Utility website. If the site is not available, then the file may be uploaded to the Division’s secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) or emailed to: [e-mail].

(c) XML File specifications. The specifications for reporting election results are defined in DS-DE 137-P (eff. 07/2015) (insert hyperlink), entitled, “Florida Election Results Precinct XML Schema Reference, Version 3.0-P.” The election results shall be reported in the XML format as specified in DS-DE 138-P.xsd (eff. 07/2015) (insert hyperlink).”

(6) Voting history activity reports. The requirements for reporting under this subsection only apply in each presidential preference primary election, special election, primary election, and general election.

(a) Compilation. The Supervisor shall compile an electronic file that includes the voting history activity information set forth in Section 98.0981, F.S., for each of the individual voters who were qualified to vote and cast a ballot in the applicable election. (The file shall not include information from persons who did not have a current active or inactive voter registration identification number but may have attempted to vote.)

(b) Transmission. The Supervisor shall transmit electronically to the Division complete voting history no later than 30 days after the Elections Canvassing Commission certifies the applicable election. The files shall be transmitted to the specified voting history subdirectory under each county’s existing transfer directory using secure file transfer protocol (SFTP).

(c) File specifications.

1. The file shall contain records for only one county for each election.

2. The file shall contain records for all qualified voters who, regardless of the voter’s county of residence or active or inactive registration status at the time the file is created:

a. Voted a regular ballot at a precinct location.

b. Voted at a precinct location using a provisional ballot that was subsequently counted.

c. Voted a regular ballot during the early voting period.

d. Voted during the early voting period using a provisional ballot that was subsequently counted.

e. Voted by absentee ballot.

f. Attempted to vote by absentee ballot but the ballot was not counted.

g. Attempted to vote by provisional ballot but the ballot was not counted in that election.

3. Each file shall be created or converted into a tab-delimited format.

4. File names shall adhere to the following convention:

a. Three character county identifier followed by underscore.

b. Followed by four character file type identifier of ‘VH03’ followed by an underscore.

c. Followed by FVRS election ID followed by an underscore.

d. Followed by Date Created followed by an underscore.

e. Date format is YYYYMMDD.

f. Followed by Time Created – HHMMSS.

g. Followed by ‘.txt’.

5. Numeric data and date information shall be provided as specified in subparagraph 9.

6. Alphanumeric data shall not be enclosed in quotes.

7. The file shall contain a header record as the first row in the file as follows:

8. The file shall contain a footer record as the last row in the file as follows:

Table 1 Voting History Header Record Layout
Field Position	Field	Type	Length	Required	Format	Comment
1	Operator ID	varchar2		N		May be blank
2	County ID	varchar2	3	Y		Source of FTP File. Valid County ID, or FVRS or HSMV
3	Targeted County ID	varchar2	3	Y		Intended Recipient. Valid County ID, or FVRS or HSMV
4	File Creation_Time Stamp	datetime		Y	MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MM:SS	Originating System Time Stamp
5	Source_Address	varchar2		Y
6	FVRS County Interface Version	varchar2		Y		For supporting roll out of new system versions
7	County_Message_Identifier	varchar2	10	Y		10 character field that may be used by the county system to identify a specific FTP File.
8	Test_File	varchar2	1	Y		Y Indicates that the FTP file is a test file and should not update primary database.

 

 

Table 2 Voting History Footer Record Layout
Field Position	Field	Type	Length	Required	Format	Comment
1	Trailer Id	varchar2	5		“TRALR”	Fixed string
2	Number of Response Rows	integer	8		Non zero integer	Number excludes header and trailer
3	Message Digest	varchar2			128 or 160 bits	Length to be determined
4	End of Message Marker	varchar2	7		\\ETX\\

 

9. The information in each record of the file shall be in the specified format for each voter who qualified to vote in the presidential preference primary, the primary election or the general election:

Table 3 Voter’s Voting History Record (VH03)
	Field Name	Max Length	Valid Codes/ Format	Description
1	Record Identifier	8	‘VH03’
2	FVRS Voter ID Number	10	Numeric
3	FVRS Election ID Number	10	Numeric
4	Vote Date		MM/DD/YYYY	Date vote was cast
5	Vote History Code	1	Y = Voted at the Polls A = Absentee Voted E = Voted Early B = Absentee Ballot Not Counted P = Provisional Ballot Not Counted F = Provisional Ballot counted as voted at an early voting site Z = Provisional Ballot counted as voted at the polls
6	Precinct	6	text
7	Congressional District	3	999
8	House District	3	999
9	Senate District	3	999
10	County Commission District	40	text
11	School Board District	40	text

 

(d) Access. The Division shall post a public access link to the legislative report on the Division’s website that also includes the file layout and codes. Such report shall also be made available upon request.

(7) Reconciliation report.

(a) Requirement for reconciliation. Before transmission of the precinct-level election results in paragraph (5), the Supervisor shall reconcile the aggregate total of all ballots cast in each precinct as reported in the precinct-level election results to the aggregate number of voters with voter history for the election for each district being contested in the election. The reconciliation shall be made on Form DS-DE 141, Reconciliation Report – Elections Results and Voter History, eff. (07/2015)(insert hyperlink here).

(b) Transmission. The Supervisor shall report the results of the reconciliation to the Division contemporaneously with the transmission of the precinct-level election results by uploading the completed Form DS-DE 141using the Division’s SOE File Transfer Utility website.

(8) The forms mentioned in this rule are hereby incorporated by reference and are available from the Division of Elections, R. A. Gray Building, Room 316, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250, by contact at [phone], or by download from the Division of Elections’ website.

(9) The requirements of this rule apply to all required reports for elections held on or after January 1, 2016.

Rulemaking Authority 20.10(3), 97.012(1), 98.0981(5), 102.141(4) and (10) FS. Law Implemented 98.0981, 102.141 FS. History–New ___________.

Editorial Note: This rule originated from former 1S-2.043(5), (6) and (7), dated 10-27-10.

 

NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING PROPOSED RULE: Lydia Strom

NAME OF AGENCY HEAD WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Kenneth W. Detzner

DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED BY AGENCY HEAD: June 23, 2015

DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAR: May 15, 2015