(a) Certifying body. Any person
desiring to have an independent recount tabulation system approved for use in
Florida shall submit a letter to the Bureau of Voting Systems Certification,
Division of Elections, Department of State, requesting certification and
providing the independent recount tabulation system's technical data package
and other items as deemed necessary to determine whether the system will be
recommended for this purpose in the state.
(b) Criteria. The independent recount
tabulation system must satisfy the following criteria prior to certification:
1. Be completely independent of any voting
system certified in the State of Florida. The independent recount tabulation
system must not contain any proprietary election-related hardware or software
in common with a voting system certified for use in the State of Florida. Any
commercially available software or hardware shared between the two systems must
not be modified. However, information used to decode the ballot artwork and any
barcoding schemes on ballots may be shared from the primary vote tabulation
system to the independent recount system.
2. Be capable of tabulating ballots produced
by the primary voting system.
3.
Comply with the certification standards for a central count tabulator pursuant
to Section 101.015, F.S., and Rule
1S-5.001, F.A.C.
4. Be fast enough to produce final, public
recount results no later than the statutory deadline.
5. Be capable of operating without vendor
support to use the system. If desired, however, a county may choose to use the
independent recount tabulation system's vendor support.
6. Be capable of examining marked ballots to
determine a valid vote, no vote, and marginal mark.
7. Be capable of physically or digitally
segregating unreadable ballots, and physically or digitally segregating
overvoted or undervoted ballots pursuant to Section
102.166, F.S.
8. Be capable of displaying or reporting
results only for those races that are being recounted.
9. Be capable of identifying the physical
storage location of each specific ballot based on the designated paper ballot
image if digital images are used.
10. By January 1, 2023, all independent
recount tabulation systems submitted for certification in the State of Florida
must be capable of producing election results and precinct-level election
results pursuant to Section
98.0981, F.S., and Rule
1S-2.053, F.A.C.
11. Reflect that the recount results will be
uniform for all properly marked ballots regardless of which approved scanner is
used.
12. All examination and
testing of the independent recount tabulation system shall occur in
Tallahassee, Florida, at a location provided by the vendor, unless examination
and testing can be conducted at the Bureau of Voting Systems Certification's
physical location. If there are associated costs beyond this, the vendor shall
reimburse the Department of State an amount equal to the actual costs incurred
by the department in its testing and examination of the independent recount
tabulation system. Reimbursable actual costs of testing include reasonable
travel costs such as lodging, car rental, parking, gas, airfare, travel-related
fees and in the case of meals, not to exceed the per diem rate established per
Section 112.061(6),
F.S.
(c) Notice. Notice
of approval or denial will be provided within 45 days after all examination and
testing of the independent recount tabulation system is completed.
(d) Authorized sale and use. After
certification of an independent recount tabulation system, any changes to the
system require the new system to be submitted to the Bureau of Voting Systems
Certification for testing and certification prior to use in the State of
Florida. No governing body shall purchase or cause to be purchased any
independent recount tabulation system unless such equipment has been certified
for use in this state by the Department of State. A vendor of automatic
independent recount tabulation systems may not provide an uncertified recount
system, recount system component, or recount system upgrade to a local
governing body or supervisor of elections for official use in this
state.
