As of May 28, members of the Florida State Legislature, which includes the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida State Senate, have passed two bills related to election administration since the beginning of the year. Of the two bills passed, both have been enacted. This is one fewer than this point a year ago. Republicans sponsored both bills. The bills are:
- FL S0004: Statewide Prosecutor, Sen. Jonathan Martin (R).
- As amended, this bill:
- Provides that the Department of Legal Affairs in the Office of Statewide Prosecution will investigate any crime involving voting in federal, state, referendum, initiative, and issue elections, as well as any petition activities for said elections.
- Provides that the Department of Legal Affairs in the Office of Statewide Prosecution will investigate any crime involving voter registration.
- Provides that the Department of Legal Affairs in the Office of Statewide Prosecution will investigate any attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit related crimes.
- Empowers the office to act in specified circumstances.
- Requires information and indictments to contain general allegations stating where the crimes are alleged to have occurred.
- As amended, this bill:
- FL S7050: Elections, Sen. Travis Hutson (R).
- As amended, this bill:
- Makes signature matching mandatory, requires anyone conducting signature matching to be trained, and requires the secretary of state’s office to adopt related rules and procedures.
- Adds that a third-party voter registration organization, unaffiliated with a political party, must provide certain information to the division the specific election cycle where they will be registering people to vote, in addition to certain other previously created provisions, and provides that the organization’s registration expires at the end of the election cycle.
- Stipulates that any person handling voter registration applications for a third-party organization must be a U.S. citizen and must not have been convicted of a felony.
- Requires the third-party voter registration organization to provide a receipt to each applicant and outlines related requirements.
- Modifies the deadline for the registrations to be delivered to the elections office from 14 days after application to 10 days after, and sets a maximum fine of $2,500 for each day delivery of the registrations are late.
- Click the hyperlinked bill number above for more information.
- As amended, this bill:
From May 22-28, legislators passed nine bills related to election administration nationally. As of May 28, South Dakota legislators have passed the most bills this year with 18, while legislators in 19 states have passed none. The state with the most enacted bills is Tennessee with 17, while 20 states have enacted none.
The Florida State Legislature was scheduled to be in session from March 7 to May 5 this year. In 2022, Florida legislators passed four election-related bills, all in the state Senate. Three of the bills were enacted into law. Florida is a Republican trifecta, meaning Republicans control the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature.
Additional reading: