§ 101.655 Supervised voting by absent electors in certain facilities.
Overview of Statute
This statute governs the procedure by which some absentee voters participate in supervised voting. Supervised absentee voting occurs in assisted living facilities and nursing home facilities. Requests for supervised voting can be made no later than 21 days before the election.
Statute
(1) The supervisor of elections of a county shall provide supervised voting for absent electors residing in any assisted living facility, as defined in s. 429.02, or nursing home facility, as defined in s. 400.021, within that county at the request of any administrator of such a facility. Such request for supervised voting in the facility shall be made by submitting a written request to the supervisor of elections no later than 21 days prior to the election for which that request is submitted. The request shall specify the name and address of the facility and the name of the electors who wish to vote-by-mail in that election. If the request contains the names of fewer than five voters, the supervisor of elections is not required to provide supervised voting.
(2) The supervisor of elections may, in the absence of a request from the administrator of a facility, provide for supervised voting in the facility for those persons who have requested vote-by-mail ballots. The supervisor of elections shall notify the administrator of the facility that supervised voting will occur.
(3) The supervisor of elections shall, in cooperation with the administrator of the facility, select a date and time when the supervised voting will occur.
(4) The supervisor of elections shall designate supervised voting teams to provide the services prescribed by this section. Each supervised voting team shall include at least two persons. Each supervised voting team must include representatives of more than one political party; however, in any primary election to nominate party nominees in which only one party has candidates appearing on the ballot, all supervised voting team members may be of that party. No candidate may provide supervised voting services.
(5) The supervised voting team shall deliver the ballots to the respective absent electors, and each member of the team shall jointly supervise the voting of the ballots. If any elector requests assistance in voting, the oath prescribed in s. 101.051 shall be completed and the elector may receive the assistance of two members of the supervised voting team or some other person of the elector’s choice to assist the elector in casting the elector’s ballot.
(6) Before providing assistance, the supervised voting team shall disclose to the elector that the ballot may be retained to vote at a later time and that the elector has the right to seek assistance in voting from some other person of the elector’s choice without the presence of the supervised voting team.
(7) If any elector declines to vote a ballot or is unable to vote a ballot, the supervised voting team shall mark the ballot “refused to vote” or “unable to vote.”
(8) After the ballots have been voted or marked in accordance with the provisions of this section, the supervised voting team shall deliver the ballots to the supervisor of elections, who shall retain them pursuant to s. 101.67.
History:
s. 6, ch. 96-57; s. 5, ch. 2006-197; s. 19, ch. 2016-37.
- Cross-References:
- Absentee Voting
- Disabled Voters
- Early & Absentee Voting
1. Definition for Supervisor
The supervisor of elections. Fla. Stat. § 97.021(36).
2. Definition for Absent Elector
Any registered and qualified voter who casts an absentee ballot. Fla. Stat. § 97.021(1).
3. Definition for Primary Election
An election held preceding the general election for the purpose of nominating a party nominee to be voted for in the general election to fill a national, state, county, or district office. Fla. Stat. § 97.021(29).
4. Definition for Ballot
As used in the Electronic Voting Systems Act, ballot means the card, tape, or other vehicle upon which the elector’s choices are recorded. Fla. Stat. § 101.5603(2).
5. Definition for Person
An individual or a corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate, or other combination of individuals having collective capacity. The term includes a political party, affiliated party committee, or political committee. Fla. Stat. § 106.011(14).
6. Definition for Elector
“Elector” is synonymous with the word “voter” or “qualified elector or voter,” except where the word is used to describe presidential electors. Fla. Stat. § 97.021(15).
7. Definition for Election
Any primary election, special primary election, special election, general election, or presidential preference primary election. Fla. Stat. § 97.021(12).
8. Definition for Candidate
Any person to whom any one or more of the following applies:
Regulations & Guidance
Additional Resources
Further Reading
-
Fla. Jur. 2d Elections s 163, Furnishing ballots
-
Fla. Jur. 2d Elections s 164, Casting ballots
-
Fla. Jur. 2d Elections s 165, Absent electors residing in assisted living facilities
-
Fla. Jur. 2d Elections s 228, Offenses in connection with voting-illegal voting
-
Fla. Jur. 2d Elections s 230, Theft, destruction, alteration, or wrongful possession of handling of ballots and election equipment and records