Florida Statutes 101.62 – Request for vote-by-mail ballots
Current as of: 2024 | Check for updates
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(1) REQUEST.–
(a) The supervisor shall accept a request for a vote-by-mail ballot only from a voter or, if directly instructed by the voter, a member of the voter’s immediate family or the voter’s legal guardian. A request may be made in person, in writing, by telephone, or through the supervisor’s website. The department shall prescribe by rule by October 1, 2023, a uniform statewide application to make a written request for a vote-by-mail ballot which includes fields for all information required in this subsection. One request is deemed sufficient to receive a vote-by-mail ballot for all elections through the end of the calendar year of the next regularly scheduled general election, unless the voter or the voter’s designee indicates at the time the request is made the elections within such period for which the voter desires to receive a vote-by-mail ballot. The supervisor must cancel a request for a vote-by-mail ballot when any first-class mail or nonforwardable mail sent by the supervisor to the voter is returned as undeliverable. If the voter requests a vote-by-mail ballot thereafter, the voter must provide or confirm his or her current residential address.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 101.62
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) The supervisor may accept a request for a vote-by-mail ballot to be mailed to a voter’s address on file in the Florida Voter Registration System from the voter, or, if directly instructed by the voter, a member of the voter’s immediate family or the voter’s legal guardian. If an in-person or a telephonic request is made, the voter must provide the voter’s Florida driver license number, the voter’s Florida identification card number, or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number, whichever may be verified in the supervisor’s records. If the ballot is requested to be mailed to an address other than the voter’s address on file in the Florida Voter Registration System, the request must be made in writing. A written request must be signed by the voter and include the voter’s Florida driver license number, the voter’s Florida identification card number, or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number. However, an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter seeking a vote-by-mail ballot is not required to submit a signed, written request for a vote-by-mail ballot that is being mailed to an address other than the voter’s address on file in the Florida Voter Registration System. The person making the request must disclose:
1. The name of the voter for whom the ballot is requested.
2. The voter’s address.
3. The voter’s date of birth.
4. The voter’s Florida driver license number, the voter’s Florida identification card number, or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number, whichever may be verified in the supervisor’s records. If the voter’s registration record does not already include the voter’s Florida driver license number or Florida identification card number or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number, the number provided must be recorded in the voter’s registration record.
5. The requester’s name.
6. The requester’s address.
7. The requester’s driver license number, the requester’s identification card number, or the last four digits of the requester’s social security number, if available.
8. The requester’s relationship to the voter.
9. The requester’s signature (written requests only).
(c) Upon receiving a request for a vote-by-mail ballot from an absent voter, the supervisor of elections shall notify the voter of the free access system that has been designated by the department for determining the status of his or her vote-by-mail ballot.
(d) For purposes of this section, the term “immediate family” refers to the following, as applicable:
1. The voter’s spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or the parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the voter’s spouse.
2. The designee’s spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or the parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the designee’s spouse.
(2) ACCESS TO VOTE-BY-MAIL REQUEST INFORMATION.–For each request for a vote-by-mail ballot received, the supervisor shall record the following information: the date the request was made; the identity of the voter’s designee making the request, if any; the Florida driver license number, Florida identification card number, or last four digits of the social security number of the voter provided with a written request; the date the vote-by-mail ballot was delivered to the voter or the voter’s designee or the date the vote-by-mail ballot was delivered to the post office or other carrier; the address to which the ballot was mailed or the identity of the voter’s designee to whom the ballot was delivered; the date the ballot was received by the supervisor; the absence of the voter’s signature on the voter’s certificate, if applicable; whether the voter’s certificate contains a signature that does not match the voter’s signature in the registration books or precinct register; and such other information he or she may deem necessary. This information must be provided in electronic format as provided by division rule. The information must be updated and made available no later than 8 a.m. of each day, including weekends, beginning 60 days before the primary until 15 days after the general election and shall be contemporaneously provided to the division. This information is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and shall be made available to or reproduced only for the voter requesting the ballot, a canvassing board, an election official, a political party or official thereof, a candidate who has filed qualification papers and is opposed in an upcoming election, and registered political committees for political purposes only.
(3) DELIVERY OF VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOTS.–
(a) No later than 45 days before each presidential preference primary election, primary election, and general election, the supervisor of elections shall send a vote-by-mail ballot as provided in subparagraph (d)2. to each absent uniformed services voter and to each overseas voter who has requested a vote-by-mail ballot.
(b) The supervisor shall mail a vote-by-mail ballot to each absent qualified voter, other than those listed in paragraph (a), who has requested such a ballot, between the 40th and 33rd days before the presidential preference primary election, primary election, and general election.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b), the supervisor shall mail vote-by-mail ballots within 2 business days after receiving a request for such a ballot, but no later than the 10th day before election day. The deadline to submit a request for a ballot to be mailed is 5 p.m. local time on the 12th day before an upcoming election.
(d) Upon a request for a vote-by-mail ballot, the supervisor shall provide a vote-by-mail ballot to each voter by whom a request for that ballot has been made, by one of the following means:
1. By nonforwardable, return-if-undeliverable mail to the voter’s current mailing address on file with the supervisor or any other address the voter specifies in the request. The envelopes must be prominently marked “Do Not Forward.”
2. By forwardable mail, e-mail, or facsimile machine transmission to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters. The absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter may designate in the vote-by-mail ballot request the preferred method of transmission. If the voter does not designate the method of transmission, the vote-by-mail ballot must be mailed.
3. By personal delivery to the voter after vote-by-mail ballots have been mailed and up to 7 p.m. on election day upon presentation of the identification required in s. 101.043.
4. By delivery to the voter’s designee after vote-by-mail ballots have been mailed and up to 7 p.m. on election day. Any voter may designate in writing a person to pick up the ballot for the voter; however, the person designated may not pick up more than two vote-by-mail ballots per election, other than the designee’s own ballot, except that additional ballots may be picked up for members of the designee’s immediate family. The designee shall provide to the supervisor the written authorization by the voter and a picture identification of the designee and must complete an affidavit. The designee shall state in the affidavit that the designee is authorized by the voter to pick up that ballot and shall indicate if the voter is a member of the designee’s immediate family and, if so, the relationship. The department shall prescribe the form of the affidavit. If the supervisor is satisfied that the designee is authorized to pick up the ballot and that the signature of the voter on the written authorization matches the signature of the voter on file, the supervisor must give the ballot to that designee for delivery to the voter.
5. Except as provided in s. 101.655, the supervisor may not deliver a vote-by-mail ballot to a voter or a voter’s designee pursuant to subparagraph 3. or subparagraph 4., respectively, during the mandatory early voting period and up to 7 p.m. on election day, unless there is an emergency, to the extent that the voter will be unable to go to a designated early voting site in his or her county or to his or her assigned polling place on election day. If a vote-by-mail ballot is delivered, the voter or his or her designee must execute an affidavit affirming to the facts which allow for delivery of the vote-by-mail ballot. The department shall adopt a rule providing for the form of the affidavit.
(4) SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.–If the department is unable to certify candidates for an election in time to comply with paragraph (3)(a), the Department of State is authorized to prescribe rules for a ballot to be sent to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters.
(5) MATERIALS.–Only the materials necessary to vote by mail may be mailed or delivered with any vote-by-mail ballot.
(6) PROHIBITION.–Except as expressly authorized for voters having a disability under s. 101.662, for overseas voters under s. 101.697, or for local referenda under ss. 101.6102 and 101.6103, a county, municipality, or state agency may not send a vote-by-mail ballot to a voter unless the voter has requested a vote-by-mail ballot in the manner authorized under this section.