Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1)
General application. These provisions apply to voter registration agencies as
designated by Section 1973gg-5 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993,
and Section 97.021, F.S. Voter registration
agencies are not considered third-party voter registration organizations.
Applicable voter registration agencies include:
(a) Any office that provides public
assistance (e.g., any office that provides assistance through the food
assistance program under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
the Medicaid program, Children's Health Kidcare, Department of Children and
Families Medicaid program, the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women,
Infants, and Children, and the Temporary Cash Assistance Program).
(b) Any office that serves persons with
disabilities. The office may be a stand-alone governmental agency or an office
operating within a state or local government agency such as the Agency for
Persons with Disabilities, a state-funded college or university, the Florida
Department of Veterans' Affairs, the Florida Department of Children and Family
Services, the Florida Department of Education's Division of Blind Services and
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
(c) Any center for independent living as
defined in Section 413.20, F.S.
(d) Any public library. A public library
refers to any library that serves a community, district or region and provides
an organized collection of printed and other library materials or combination
thereof, paid staff, a schedule in which staff services are available to
public, facilities to support collection, staff and schedule, and is supported
in whole or in part with public funds. The term does not include an academic
library.
(e) Any armed forces
recruitment office.
(2)
For purposes of designating a coordinator under subsection (3), and reporting
voter registration activities under subsection (7), "each voter registration
agency" refers to the highest level of administrative unit or a consortium unit
that oversees and monitors activities over one or more jurisdictional,
district, or regional offices or divisions.
(3) Coordinator. Each voter registration
agency shall designate an agency coordinator for voter registration activities
related to NVRA and Section
97.058, F.S. The coordinator
shall:
(a) Notify the Division of Elections of
his or her name and contact information and keep the Division up-to-date
regarding any changes.
(b) Identify
those agency staff and agents of the agency whose duties involve offering new
agency services or renewal or recertification thereof, or the intake of address
changes for those services.
(c)
Ensure that the duties of persons identified in paragraph (b), delineate
responsibility to provide voter registration and update opportunities to their
clients at the same time as they are being offered the agency's
services.
(d) Provide training to
agency staff identified in paragraph (b), which may be satisfied by in-house
training, or training offered by the Supervisor of Elections' office, or the
Department of State's NVRA Coordinator. The training should cover at a minimum
the following topics: how and to whom voter registration services must be
offered whether services are provided in person, by phone, online, or other
means, how to process the voter registration of special classes of clients as
victims of domestic violence or stalking violence, and high-risk professional
classes of applicants who may be entitled to address confidentiality under
certain circumstances, what the procedures are for advising clients of certain
voter registration rights under federal and state law as set out in the
preference form referenced further in this rule, how to make applications in
electronic or paper format available or accessible, what is the degree of
assistance required if client requests assistance to complete the application,
what are the mandatory and optional fields of a voter registration application,
how to record or track an agency's voter registration activities, and what is
the process for collecting and submitting voter registration applications or,
if authorized by law, electronic voter registration
information.
(4) Voter
registration applications. A voter registration agency shall ensure that
regardless of the manner in which the person applies (in-person, over the
phone, online or other means), for new or renewal or recertification of agency
services or for updates to his or her address with respect to those services,
the person shall be offered the opportunity to apply for voter registration at
the same time by distributing a voter registration application or making a
voter registration application available online and printing, or through
inputting voter registration information electronically. The person shall also
be provided the same degree of assistance that the agency provides in assisting
the person in connection with the agency's own services, unless the person
refuses such assistance.
(5) Notice
of Rights. When a person applies for primary agency services or assistance from
a voter registration agency for the first time or renews or recertifies
eligibility for such services or assistance, or changes his or her address with
respect to that service or assistance, the voter registration agency, with the
exception of public libraries, must give in person or provide paper or
electronic access to the following information about their rights:
(a) The right to apply to register or update
his or her voter registration record through the voter registration agency, or
decline to do so.
(b) The right to
have his or her benefits or services unaffected by whether he or she decides to
register or not register to vote.
(c) The right to ask for and receive the same
degree of help to fill a voter registration application as the person would
receive to apply for the agency's own services.
(d) The right to privacy so as to be able to
complete a voter registration application without assistance, and to have a
person's decision to register or not register be kept confidential including
not disclosing to the public where a person submitted his or her voter
registration information.
(e) The
right to submit a complaint to the Florida Department of State if the person
believes that someone has interfered with his or her right to apply to register
or to decline to register, his or her right to privacy in such decision, or his
or her right to choose his or her own political party.
(6) Preference form. The preference form
entitled "National Voter Registration Act Preference Form and Application"
(DS-DE #77-ENG; eff. 01/2012;
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00680),
incorporated herein by reference, may be used to comply with the requirements
in subsections (4) and (5). Otherwise, the voter registration agency must
ensure that any programmatic or electronic interface with the client complies
with the requirements in subsections (4) and (5). A Spanish version is also
available and is entitled "National Voter Registration Act Formulario de
Preferencia y Solicitud de Registrar (DS-DE #77-SPN, eff. 01/2012;
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00681).
Both forms are available online at:
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/forms/index.shtml or directly from the Division
of Elections, Room 316, R.A. Gray Building, 500 S. Bronough Street,
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250, or by phone at (850)245-6200. A public library
is not required to develop or use a preference form except when it is acting in
the capacity of another voter registration agency.
(7) Data collection.
(a) On behalf of each voter registration
agency, each voter registration coordinator shall report quarterly on the prior
3-months of voter registration activities. Such reports are due on April 15,
July 15, October 15, and January 15. Such report shall be submitted to the
Division of Elections. The coordinator shall use the form entitled "NVRA Voter
Registration Agencies Quarterly Activities Report Form, " (DS DE #131; eff.
01/2012;
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00682)
incorporated herein by reference. The form is available for electronic input on
the Division's webpage at: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/NVRA/index.shtml. If
the electronic system is not functioning, the form may be downloaded and
submitted in hard-copy to the Division of Elections, at (850)245-6200, or R.A.
Gray Building, Room 316, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida
32399-0250. Except as provided in subsection (8), for public libraries, a voter
registration agency must report the following aggregated data as set forth in
the form.
1. How many clients declined to
register or update their voter registration record. For purposes of this rule,
the term "decline" does not include those persons who request that the
application be mailed or who take an application in lieu of completing or
submitting voter registration information at the time of applying for or
receiving new or renewal or recertification of agency services, or updating an
address for those services.
2. How
many clients sought new or a renewal or recertification of agency services or
assistance or made an address change with an agency in each category: in
person, by mail, via online, web service, or electronic remote location, by
telephone, or through home site visit.
3. How many voter registration applications
were mailed to clients.
4. How many
clients submitted voter registration information or an application to the
agency (including applications received in the mail or delivered to the
agency).
5. How many voter
registration applications were forwarded for each county to the Supervisor of
Elections' office, regardless of whether they were invalid, incomplete, or a
duplicate of an existing registration.
(8) A public library must:
(a) Provide to its patrons access to a voter
registration application by either distributing voter registration applications
or making it available online for printing at the same time its patron applies
for a new or renewal of a library card or updates an address for purposes of a
library card.
(b) Assist patrons if
help is requested to complete the voter registration application to the same
degree it provides assistance with the completion of its own forms to obtain a
new library card or renewal thereof, or to update their address.
(c) Report to the Department of State, the
number of voter registration applications forwarded by each public library in
the county to the local Supervisor of Elections'
office.
Rulemaking Authority
20.10(3),
97.012(9),
97.058(9) FS.
Law Implemented 97.058,
97.012
FS.
New 1-2-12.
