Bill > S0394

Introduced Session

An act relating to elections; amending s. 97.021, F.S.; defining terms; making technical changes; amending s. 101.015, F.S.; requiring the Department of State to adopt rules for minimum standards for security measures for electronic and electromechanical voting and other election systems; requiring that the Election Technology Advisory Board annually evaluate such rules; requiring that the department annually update such rules; revising the standards for such rules; requiring that voting and other election systems comply with specified standards; providing the required standards that must be met or exceeded; requiring the Election Technology Advisory Board to resolve conflicts among differing standards by making a specified determination; providing exceptions to such standards under specified circumstances; requiring that security measures be outlined in the county security plan approved by the department; requiring the department to adopt or modify specified rules; requiring that a certain full supply chain analysis be conducted on specified components; requiring the Election Technology Advisory Board to make certain recommendations; making technical changes; amending s. 101.017, F.S.; revising the name of the Bureau of Voting Systems to the Bureau of Voting Systems and Other Election Systems; providing that the bureau is also responsible for other election technology standards and certification; requiring that the bureau hire a certain number of credentialed cybersecurity experts; requiring that the Florida Cybersecurity Advisory Council and a state security risk assessment team review all county security plans and election security rules biennially; creating s. 101.018, F.S.; creating the Election Technology Advisory Board; providing the board’s responsibilities, membership, and quorum requirements; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the advisory board; amending s. 101.293, F.S.; providing that other election systems are subject to competitive solicitation requirements under specified conditions; making technical changes; amending s. 101.294, F.S.; requiring the Division of Elections to adopt specified rules; prohibiting governing bodies from purchasing any other election system unless such system has been certified by the Department of State; requiring governing bodies to notify the division of purchasing or selling other election systems; requiring the division to inform governing bodies of the availability of new or used other election systems; prohibiting vendors from providing other election systems that are uncertified to local governing bodies and supervisors of elections; requiring that vendors of other election systems provide a certain certification to local governing bodies or supervisors of elections; amending s. 101.295, F.S.; providing criminal penalties for members of governing bodies who purchase or sell other election systems in violation of specified provisions; increasing the criminal penalty for such members who purchase or sell voting equipment; amending s. 101.34, F.S.; providing that supervisors of elections are the custodians of other election systems; authorizing supervisors of elections to appoint deputies to prepare and supervise other election systems; reenacting and amending s. 101.341, F.S.; prohibiting specified persons from accepting employment or any consideration from persons or entities involved in the purchase, repair, or sale of other election systems and election materials under specified conditions; prohibiting supervisors and their employees from seeking employment, contracts, or other relationships with specified suppliers on behalf of the employees’ family members; requiring such persons to advise family members that such relationships create the appearance of a conflict of interest; requiring supervisors to notify the Secretary of State of such conflict; authorizing the secretary to remove or retain supervisors under specified conditions; requiring the secretary to promptly report certain information to the public; providing criminal penalties; making technical changes; amending s. 101.5604, F.S.; authorizing boards of county of commissioners to adopt, purchase, or otherwise procure other election systems under specified conditions; providing that counties may use either electronic or electromechanical precinct-count tabulation voting systems or count ballots by hand at the precinct level; amending s. 101.5605, F.S.; requiring the Department of State to examine publicly all other election systems submitted and make a certain determination; authorizing persons owning or interested in other election systems to submit such systems to the department for examination; requiring the department to employ specified individuals; prohibiting the Secretary of State and examiners from having a pecuniary interest in other election systems, election materials, and election-related service providers; requiring disclosure of potential conflicts under specified conditions; providing that any examiners who have a conflict be excluded from certain activities; requiring that persons contracting with the Department of State to provide other election systems have a registered agent in this state; making technical changes; amending s. 101.5606, F.S.; revising the requirements voting systems must meet to be approved by the Department of State; prohibiting other election systems or election vendors from being approved by the department unless certain conditions are confirmed; amending s. 101.56065, F.S.; revising definitions; requiring vendors to file a written disclosure with the department identifying defects in other election systems; requiring the department to suspend the use of systems if a certain determination is made; prohibiting the sale, lease, or use of other election systems under a specified condition; requiring, rather than authorizing, the department to initiate investigations under certain circumstances; revising the civil penalty for vendors that fail to disclose or cure a defect; revising the actions the department is authorized or required to take if it finds a defect existed; conforming provisions to changes made by the act; making technical changes; amending s. 101.5612, F.S.; requiring that a certification team inspect and approve all source code for specified equipment; requiring the Secretary of State and vendors to maintain specified certificates; requiring vendors to prepare a code package and digital signature using such certificate and submit both to the secretary; requiring the secretary to promptly and permanently publish such materials on its publicly available website; requiring the secretary to follow such process for all change events; prohibiting the installation of certain software; requiring that a certain list of all systems be posted on the website and updated under specified conditions; requiring that certain tests be sufficient to make certain determinations; requiring that the same testing standards be implemented on other election systems; requiring supervisors of elections to have other election systems publicly tested; specifying that voting system testing must ascertain that such system will correctly count votes cast for all offices and measures; requiring, rather than authorizing, supervisors to conduct additional testing within a specified timeframe under certain conditions; requiring that other election system testing ascertain that the system will correctly perform its designated functions during an election; requiring that all testing be subject to public notice of the time and place; requiring, rather than authorizing, supervisors or other municipal elections officials to give a certain notice to candidates; specifying that designees from political parties are allowed in work areas during testing and ballot counting; authorizing the party designee to observe other election systems during elections, request inspection of and photograph system settings, and have access to a certain hotline; providing that the public must be able to observe tabulators and other election equipment through specified means; prohibiting designees and the public from interfering with certain operations of the canvassing board; requiring that the public and designees be able to call a hotline and submit a work ticket; requiring that such calls be monitored by the state and canvassing board; authorizing political parties to have designees monitor the hotline; requiring that a randomly selected number of test ballots from public participants be chosen; providing that after reconciliation, two batches of ballots be comingled and reconciled again; requiring that such process be repeated and errorless results be achieved under specified conditions; requiring that voting systems in absentee vote counting centers be publicly tested; revising the sample selection process for such testing; requiring that a randomly selected number of test ballots from public participants be chosen; providing that after reconciliation, two batches of ballots be comingled and reconciled again; requiring that such process be repeated and errorless results be achieved under specified conditions; requiring that other election systems that are determined to have an error in their functions or security measures be deemed unsatisfactory; requiring the canvassing board, with assistance from specified experts, to take steps to determine the cause of the error, identify and test other devices, and test a number of additional devices to make a certain determination; prohibiting systems from allowing remote logins; requiring that specified seals be used to seal specified points of entry for voting devices; revising the written statements executed by a canvassing board or its representative to include the number of seals and other election systems; requiring that tabulating devices and other election systems that are unsatisfactory be recoded, repaired, or replaced and be available for retesting; requiring that records of certain tests on other election systems be kept; requiring that certain records related to testing be available through public records requests at no charge; authorizing the posting of such records on the election office website; requiring that records be kept for a specified timeframe; making technical changes; amending s. 101.591, F.S.; revising when county canvassing boards or local boards responsible for certifying elections must conduct a manual audit; specifying how such manual audit must be conducted; revising the contents of the tally sheet used by precincts for ballots collected and counted; requiring the canvassing board and public observers to be present for specified actions; requiring that such actions be videotaped and livestreamed; requiring that automated audits use original paper ballots; requiring that precincts be randomly selected by the county canvassing board or the local board responsible for certifying an election at a publicly noticed meeting; requiring that audits be completed and results made public before an election is certified; making a technical change; amending ss. 101.68 and 101.69, F.S.; conforming cross-references; providing an effective date.

Ileana Garcia (R)*, 

Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration (on 05/03/2025)

Official Document