RULE NO.:RULE TITLE:
1S-2.0091Constitutional 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. 47 No. 88, May 6, 2021 issue of the Florida Administrative Register.
1S-2.0091 Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition; Submission Deadline; Signature Verification.
(1) Application and Forms. The process in this rule applies solely to constitutional amendments proposed by initiative. The form referenced herein is incorporated by reference and is available online on the Division of Elections’ website at https://www.dos.myflorida.com/elections under header for forms, through the rule as adopted under www.flrules.org, or from the Florida Department of State, Division of Elections, Room 316, R.A. Gray Building, 500 S. Bronough Street, Tallahassee, 32399-0250, (850) 245-6200.
(2) Submission.
(a) Signed initiative petition forms proposing amendments to the Florida Constitution shall be submitted by the sponsoring political committee (hereinafter “petition sponsor”) to the Supervisor of Elections for the county of residence listed by the person signing the form.
(b) If a form submitted by a paid petition circulator is not timely submitted within 30 days after the voter signs the form, the petition sponsor is liable for the fines set forth in section 100.371(7)(a)1. and 2., F.S.. If the 30th day falls on a weekend, holiday, or other day on which the Supervisor of Elections office is closed, the petition form must be delivered to the Supervisor of Elections by the following business day. Supervisors shall submit copies of untimely filed petitions filed by paid petition circulators to the Division of Elections via file utility transfer utilizing the Supervisor of Elections portal. The Division will then review and, along with an indication of date received for each, such that the Division may provide notification to petition sponsors and impose statutory fines. The untimely filing of a form does not invalidate the signature on the form.
(c) If the Supervisor of Elections determines that the signer of the petition is a registered voter in another county, the Supervisor of Elections shall notify the petition sponsor that the petition has been misfiled. It is the responsibility of the petition sponsor thereafter to ensure that the misfiled petition form is properly filed with the Supervisor of Elections for the county in which the signer is a registered voter. In the case of a misfiled petition by a paid petition circulator, the filing date of the petition is the date such petition is filed with a Supervisor of Elections. The petition sponsor shall make all reasonable efforts to file in the proper county. The initially receiving Supervisor of Elections shall submit copies of any untimely filed forms to the Division, as may be necessary pursuant to subsection (b), above, and notate the forms so as to alert the subsequent receiving Supervisor of Elections that the forms have previously been received and reported as untimely., except that for purposes of determining fines on a petition sponsor pursuant to section 100.371(7)(a)1. and 2., the 30-day clock is reset when the Supervisor of Elections returns the misfiled form to the petition sponsor. If a misfiled form is returned to the petition sponsor, the Supervisor of Elections shall notate the return date on the form.
(d) For petition forms submitted less than 60 days before February 1, of an even-numbered year, the petition sponsor shall ensure that the forms are bundled or separated in some manner by circulator prior to submitting the forms to the Supervisor of Elections.
(3) Signature Verification.
(a) In accordance with the signature verification fee provisions in section 99.097(4), F.S., the petition sponsor must pay in advance the signature verification fee posted on the respective Supervisor of Elections website unless an affidavit of undue burden has been filed,
(b) The the Supervisor of Elections for the county in which the signee is a registered voter shall verify the signatures on each initiative petition form within 60 days, except for a petition form submitted less than 60 days before February 1 of an even-numbered year, which must be verified within 30 days, after receipt of the form to ensure that the petition signer:
1. Was, at the time of signing and verification of the petition, a registered voter in the state,
2. For petition forms signed prior to April 8, 2020, has not signed the petition form more than two years prior to the date the Supervisor verified the petition. For petition forms signed on or after April 8, 2020, has not signed the petition form more than two years prior to the next February 1 occurring in an even-numbered year, and
3. Had not ever previously signed a petition form containing the identical initiative which had been verified as valid.
(b) The Supervisor shall not verify as valid a signature on an initiative petition form unless the petition is on the proper form prescribed by the Division of Elections as specified in Rule 1S-2.009, F.A.C. and all of the following information is contained on the petition form:
1. The voter’s name,
2. The voter’s address (including city and county),
3. The voter’s date of birth or voter registration number,
4. The voter’s original signature,
5. The date the voter signed the petition, as recorded by the voter, and
6. For forms circulated by a paid petition circulator, a signed Petition Circulator’s Affidavit as required by section 100.371(5), Florida Statutes. Additionally, the paid petition circulator must have been registered with the Division of Elections to collect petitions on the date of the voter’s signature.
(4) Random Sampling Not Permitted. Supervisors of Elections may not use random sampling as a method for verifying signatures on constitutional amendment initiative petitions.
(5) Recordation of Verification.
(a) After completing the signature verification process pursuant to subsection (3), the Supervisor of Elections shall report to the Division of Elections the following information:
1. The assigned serial number for the applicable initiative petition,
2. The date the signature was verified,
3. The number of valid verified signatures, by congressional district in the county,
4. The number of invalid signatures, and
5. For forms gathered by a paid petition circulator, the circulator’s registration number.
(b) This information shall be submitted to the Division via data entry on the Supervisor of Elections application portal no later than 60 days after receipt of the petition by the Supervisor of Elections and payment of the fee for signature verification, except that for petition forms submitted less than 60 days before February 1 of an even-numbered year, the information must be submitted within 30 days after receipt and payment.
(6) Complaints. Any person claiming to have had his or her signature on an initiative petition form misrepresented, forged, or not delivered to a Supervisor of Elections shall use Form DS-DE 153 (eff. XX/XXXX), entitled “Form for Complaint Against Petition Circulator” to file the complaint with the Division.
(7) Filing Deadline. In order for the initiative petition to be timely filed for appearance on the ballot for the next general election, the constitutionally requisite number of verified signatures must be verified and reported to the Division no later than 5:00 p.m. on February 1 of the year in which the general election is held.
(8) Within ten days of a petition sponsor being notified that an initiative has made ballot position, the committee shall notify the Division as to whether it intends for Supervisors of Elections to continue verifying signatures on initiative petition forms.
(9) 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.
Rulemaking Authority 20.10(3), 97.012(1), 100.371(6) FS. Law Implemented 100.371 FS. History–New 1-6-80, Amended 12-20-83, Formerly 1C-7.091, 1C-7.0091, Amended 2-13-90, 3-5-96, 1-5-04, 3-16-06, 10-15-07, 10-13-08, 7-18-10, 9-7-11,_______.
