To implement the amendments to Section 100.371, Florida Statutes, in Chapter 2008-95, Laws of Florida. The statutory amendments deleted the requirement that verified signatures on petition revocation forms be recorded in the statewide voter ...

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Division of Elections

RULE NO: RULE TITLE
1S-2.0095: Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Revocation; Petition Approval; Submission Deadline; Signature Verification
PURPOSE AND EFFECT: To implement the amendments to Section 100.371, Florida Statutes, in Chapter 2008-95, Laws of Florida. The statutory amendments deleted the requirement that verified signatures on petition revocation forms be recorded in the statewide voter registration system; therefore, the revised rule removes this requirement. The statutory amendments also mandated the adoption of petition revocation forms, to include a standard form when no corresponding initiative petition has been submitted and approved. The revised rule adopts such form. The rule clarifies that the sponsoring political committee also must include its address in the political disclaimer portion of the revocation form and that no additional information other than that required by the rule may be printed on the petition revocation form. The rule also deletes the provision that prevents bundling of the revocation petitions as being unnecessary, because Section 100.371, F.S., requires that the manner in which signatures on petition revocation forms are obtained be subject to the same requirements as the corresponding petition form. The statute now expressly provides that petition forms cannot be bundled while being circulated for signature.
SUBJECT AREA TO BE ADDRESSED: Citizen constitutional initiative revocation process.
SPECIFIC AUTHORITY: 20.10(3), 97.012(1), 100.371(7) FS.
LAW IMPLEMENTED: 100.371, 101.161 FS.
IF REQUESTED IN WRITING AND NOT DEEMED UNNECESSARY BY THE AGENCY HEAD, A RULE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:
TIME AND DATE: Friday, July 25, 2008, 2:00 p.m.
PLACE: Florida Heritage Hall (Plaza Level), R. A. Gray Building, 500 S. Bronough Street, 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 five days before the workshop/meeting by contacting: Nolah Shotwell, Executive Assistant, Office of General Counsel, Florida Department of State at [phone]; [e-mail]. 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 DEVELOPMENT AND A COPY OF THE PRELIMINARY DRAFT, IF AVAILABLE, IS: Gary J. Holland, Assistant General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, Florida Department of State at [phone]; email: [e-mail]

THE PRELIMINARY TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT IS:

1S-2.0095 Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Revocation; Petition Approval; Submission Deadline; Signature Verification.

(1) Submission of Petition Revocation Form. Prior to circulation of a petition revocation form, any person or group sponsoring the revocation effort must register as a political committee pursuant to Chapter 106, F.S., and must obtain approval of the petition revocation form from the Division of Elections. Submissions shall be in writing and shall include a copy or a facsimile of the proposed form to be circulated. No petition revocation form may be circulated unless approved by the Division of Elections.

(2) Requirements and Approval of Petition Revocation Form. The Division shall review the petition revocation form submitted by the sponsoring political committee solely for sufficiency of the format and shall render a decision within seven (7) days following receipt. The format of the petition revocation form is deemed sufficient only if the form:

(a) Is printed on separate cards or individual sheets of paper. The minimum size of such forms shall be 3 inches by 5 inches and the maximum shall be 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches.

(b) Is clearly and conspicuously entitled at the top of the form “Petition Revocation Form.”

(c) Includes adequate space for the voter’s: name; residential street address, city, and county at the time of signing the initiative petition for which the signature is being revoked; voter registration number; date of birth; signature; and date of signature.

(d) Contains the ballot title and ballot summary of the proposed amendment in the initiative petition for which the signature is being revoked.

(e) Conspicuously contains the full text of the amendment for which the signature is being revoked, as indicated in the initiative petition as approved in Rule 1S-2.009, F.A.C. If the text must be printed on both sides of the form, it shall be clearly indicated that the text is continued or begins on the other side.

(f) Contains space for only one voter’s signature, to be located below the full text of the amendment for which the signature is being revoked.

(g) Contains instructions below the signature of the voter that provide:

1. The Supervisor of Elections may not accept the petition revocation form directly from the voter;

2. The voter shall return the form to the political committee sponsoring the revocation petition; and

3. The contact information for the political committee sponsoring the revocation petition, which at a minimum, shall include its name and mailing address.

(h) Is marked, in accordance with Section 106.143, F.S., with the appropriate disclaimer which identifies the name and address of the political committee sponsoring the revocation effort and the name of the entity paying for the petition, if different from the name of the committee sponsoring the revocation effort.

(i) Contains space for the name and address of a paid petition circulator in the event the petition revocation form is gathered by a paid petition circulator.

(3) Format of Petition Revocation Form.

1. The format of the initiative petition revocation form sponsored by a political committee and submitted for review and approval by the Division of Elections shall be substantially in accordance with Form DS-DE 19R (eff. 8/1/07), entitled “Petition Revocation Form.” Form DS-DE 19R is hereby incorporated by reference and is available from the Division of Elections, Room 316, R. A. Gray Building, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250; [phone]; or by download from the Division of Elections’ webpage at http://election.dos.state.fl.us.

2. Any voter desiring to revoke his or her signature on an initiative petition when a political committee has not submitted and obtained approval of a petition-revocation form for the petition, shall use Form DS-DE 19R-SF (eff. 7/1/08), entitled “Petition Revocation Standard Form.” Form DS-DE 19R-SF is hereby incorporated by reference and is available from the Division of Elections, Room 316, R. A. Gray Building, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250; [phone]; by download from the Division of Elections’ webpage at http://election.dos.state.fl.us.

(4) Additional Information or Materials. Other than providing information or a method by which the petition revocation form may be returned by mail to the political committee, no additional information or materials that relate to the initiative petition or the petition revocation shall be printed directly on the form.

(5) Assignment of a Serial Number. The Division shall assign a serial number to each approved petition revocation form sponsored by a political committee. The number shall be the serial number of the initiative petition form followed by an “R”. For example, the serial number of the petition-revocation form on petition 06-1 would be 06-1R. The serial number assigned must be printed in the lower right hand corner of the petition revocation form.

(6) Bundling. No petition revocation form circulated for signature may be bundled with or attached to any other petition form or petition-revocation form.

(6)(7) Reproduction.

(a) Petition-Revocation Forms Sponsored by a Political Committee. Blank pPetition-revocation forms sponsored by a political committee may be reproduced in newspapers, magazines, other forms of printed mass media or made available via the Internet for download or printing, provided such forms are reproduced in the same format as approved by the Division. The blank petition revocation form may be included within a larger advertisement, provided the forms are clearly defined by a solid or broken line border.

(b) Form DS-DE 19R-SF. A blank Form DS-DE 19R-SF may be reproduced by downloading from the Internet or photocopying another blank form, provided such form is reproduced in the same format as produced by the Division. Only an employee of the Division of Elections or a Supervisor of Elections’ office, the voter who intends to sign the form, or someone at the voter’s request may download or provide the voter with a copy of Form DS-DE-19R-SF for submission to a Supervisor of Elections.

(7)(8) Submission of Signed Petition Revocation Forms. All signed petition revocation forms, except for those properly submitted on Form DS-DE 19R-SF, shall be returned to the political committee sponsoring the revocation effort. Only the political committee sponsoring the revocation effort shall submit the signed petition revocation forms to the Supervisors of Elections for verification of signatures. When there is no sponsoring political committee, a voter shall submit the Form DS-DE 19R-SF directly to the Supervisor of Elections’ office in person, through a person acting on the voter’s behalf, or by mail, along with the signature verification fee required by Section 99.097(4), F.S. It is the responsibility of the political committee sponsoring the revocation effort to ensure that the signed petition revocation form is properly filed with, or if misfiled forwarded to, the supervisor of elections of the county in which the signee was a registered voter at the time of signing the underlying original initiative petition. In the case of a misfiled petition revocation form, the filing date of the petition revocation form is the date such petition is filed with the proper county.

(8)(9) Signature Verification.

(a) In accordance with the signature verification fee provisions in Section 99.097(4), F.S., the Supervisor of Elections shall verify the signatures on each petition revocation form within 30 days of receipt of the form and shall confirm that:

1. The underlying original initiative petition on which the signature is being revoked was verified;

2. The date the petition revocation form was signed by the voter is not more than 150 days from the date the underlying original initiative petition was signed; and

3. The voter is a registered voter in Florida at the time of verifying the signature on the petition revocation form.

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

1. The voter’s name;

2. The voter’s residential street address (including city and county) that was recorded on the underlying original signature petition on which the voter desires to revoke his or her signature;

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 revocation form, as recorded by the voter.

(9)(10) Recordation of Verification. No later than 24 hours after verification of signatures on submitted petition revocation forms, the Supervisor of Elections shall record each valid and verified signature in the statewide voter registration system. The appropriate supervisor of elections for each respective voter whose signature is verified as valid shall record the date the petition revocation form was received, the date of signature, the date the signature was verified, and the assigned serial number for the applicable revocation petition. Upon completion of the verifications as set forth in subsection (8), the Supervisors of Elections shall submit to the Division of Elections a certificate indicating the number of verified revocations and the distribution by congressional district. In conjunction with each certificate submitted, each Supervisor shall submit a copy of one revocation form to which the verified signatures relate. Certificates may be submitted by the Supervisor via facsimile in order to meet the deadline, followed by the original certificates sent by mail.

(10)(11) Filing Deadline. In order for a petition revocation form to count against the number of signatures recorded as verified for the underlying original initiative petition for the next general election, the signed petition revocation must be verified and received by Division of Elections entered into the statewide voter registration system no later than 5:00 p.m. of February 1 preceding the next general election in which the initiative amendment is certified for ballot position.

(11)(12) Availability of Forms. The sponsoring political committee for the petition revocation effort shall provide each supervisor of elections with petition revocation forms for distribution at the main and branch offices of the supervisor of elections.

(12)(13) Irrevocable Effect of Revocation. A voter may sign only one petition revocation form for the underlying original petition. In accordance with Section 104.185, F.S., when a voter signs a petition revocation form, the voter may not again sign the initiative petition on which the voter is seeking to revoke his or her signature.

(14) Applicability. Revocation of a voter’s signature on an initiative petition may occur only on or after August 1, 2007 for a petition revocation form filed with the supervisor of elections not more than 150 days from the date the voter signed the underlying original initiative petition.

Specific Authority 20.10(3), 97.012(1), 100.371(7), 101.161 FS. Law Implemented 100.371, 101.161 FS. History–New 10-15-07, Amended _________.