Latest news with #SB528
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A look at proposed election changes (so far) for the 2025 Florida legislative session
SB 528 would require pollsters to disclose their sponsors. (Stock photo by) When Florida lawmakers return to Tallahassee Tuesday for the start of the 60-day regular legislative session, they're expected to address a number of election and voting issues. Perhaps the biggest will be a set of proposals already put forward by Gov. Ron DeSantis that he insists are required to reform the petition gathering process for constitutional amendments. Many of those proposals are now included in a bill by Spring Hill Republican Blaise Ingoglia, one of the governor's closest allies in the Senate. His legislation (SB 1414) includes a number of provisions on that front, including: Eliminating third-party collection of petition forms and replacing it with the same verification measures used in vote-by-mail. Requiring proposed amendments by petition to define 'terms of art' (such as 'healthcare provider'). Requiring the attorney general to identify provisions in Florida Constitution or law that may be repealed in full or in part. Prohibiting any foreign national from funding political parties, candidates, or constitutional amendments. Mandating that election results undergo a full audit of every vote cast before election certification to ensure accuracy. A similar proposal (HB 1205) has been filed by Lee County Republican Jenna Persons-Mulicka in the House. Florida election supervisors have their own slate of proposals, as they articulated in an appearance before the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee in early February. Some of those proposals haven't found their way into proposed legislation at the moment. One of those items is that they want legislation to address a problem surfacing right now in Florida's 1st and 6th Congressional Districts, where special elections are set for April 1. The concern has to do with a measure passed in 2021 that requires voters to renew their vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot requests every two years instead of every four years, as previously was the law. That resulted in a statewide decrease in VBM requests in the 2024 election cycle, the first election year the measure was in effect, and it's really being felt this winter in those two special congressional elections. Dave Ramba, executive director of the Florida Supervisors of Elections (FSE), produced a pie chart to that Senate committee showing 98,343 requests for vote-by-mail ballots in last year's general election in District 1, when Matt Gaetz easily won re-election. He compared that to just 12,392 requests for vote-by-mail ballots in the special primary election held in late January. 'These voters three months ago were seeing vote-by-mail ballots for the November election,' Ramba said. 'We've gotten a lot of complaints about people [asking], 'Why didn't I receive one in January? Three months ago, I got one for the presidential — now we're doing a congressional special and we're now off the list automatically.'' Other requests by the supervisors include: Require U.S. citizens recently naturalized to obtain or update driver's license information within 30 days of naturalization. Align base pay for all constitutional officers, including supervisors of elections, clerks of the circuit courts, and property appraisers, with the pay raises for tax collectors and superintendents of schools approved during last year's legislative session. Exempt from public records personal information about election workers as part of 'Critical Infrastructure Assets.' Allow additional flexibility for designating early voting sites when the main office or other governmental offices are not 'practicable' for serving voters. That last request has been placed in bill form by South Florida Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky (SB 1486) in what she is calling 'The Disaster-Affected Voter Bill of Rights,' which would address problems in communities facing an election after a natural disaster hits. A similar measure has been introduced in the House by Pinellas County Democrat Lindsay Cross (HB 1317). Among the provisions are allowing a supervisor of elections to request that vote-by-mail ballots be sent to temporary addresses where evacuees are staying, rather than having to submit a signed statewide form; letting the U.S. Postal Service forward ballots; allow early voting 15 days before the election through Election Day; deploy mobile polling locations; assign additional early voting sites; offer intake stations beyond early voting hours; and hold ballots at local offices if the post office is out of action. Miami-Dade County Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia has filed several bills that look likely to win support from 'voting integrity' groups that have swarmed state legislatures around the country following the 2020 presidential election. SB 390 would require a law enforcement officer to transport ballot boxes from a supervisor of elections office to a specific voting precinct, and mandate that they remain under the supervision of a law enforcement officer at 'all times' until delivered back to the supervisor. Garcia has said publicly that her motivation was a video depicting an individual trying to crack open a rental truck transporting mail ballots in the days ahead of the 2022 midterm election. SB 394 would create an 'Election Technology Advisory Board' to oversee voting security standards and centralize development and manufacturing of voting systems used in Florida by companies based in the United States. It calls for any software developments and maintenance of voting systems to be done only the U.S. and performed only by U.S. citizens. It also would require that a 'full supply chain analysis' be conducted on all hardware and software to ensure that they are produced and developed in the United States. SB 396 would require the Department of State to adopt stricter security and chain of custody oversight of ballots; authorize political action committees and political committees to station poll watchers in polling rooms and early voting areas; require audits following each election; require that a person requesting a vote-by-mail ballot attest to an allowed reason for such request; require a supervisor of elections to verify a certificate signature, a voter certificate envelope, and ballot material in a specified manner. Garcia has also filed SB 1330, which includes a tightening of the voter registration process. Two House Republicans have filed comprehensive election reform bills. Volusia County Republican Webster Barnaby's version (HB 1203) encompasses provisions relating to election systems, election security, drop boxes, and other vote-by-mail issues. A Persons-Mulicka bill (HB 1381) gives the Office of Election Crimes and Security subpoena power; requires supervisors of elections to re-register a voter who was previously registered but fell off the rolls within seven days unless they receive information that the voter is ineligible; lays out specific rules for poll watchers; says that a voter must initiate the request for a vote-by-mail form from the supervisor of elections. Her bill also requires supervisors of elections to designate a number of early-voting sites that can be no less than the number in the previous general election; says that any mail forwarding delivery service may not further forward any voter's official vote-by-mail ballot or envelope that has been delivered to the service's address, with anyone who 'willfully' violates that as being guilty of a third-degree felony; increases penalties to political parties, candidates, committees, or organizations created to support a ballot initiative from a foreign national. Northeastern Republican Dean Black has filed a bill (HB 1249) that includes provisions regarding qualifications of a political candidate; legal challenges to qualifications, and the use of disclaimers enclosed in voter guides. Another 'election integrity'-themed bill comes from Pinellas County Republican Berny Jacques and East Coast Republican Chase Tremont in the House. Their proposal (HB 831) would 'ensure' that only U.S. citizens can vote by strengthening voter eligibility verification by requiring state-issued IDs to clearly mark noncitizen status and mandating election officials use 'all verifiable data to verify citizenship.' Fort Myers Republican state Sen. Jonathan Martin has filed a bill (SB 1098) establishing that a drop box for vote-by-mail ballots may only be made available during early voting hours or during normal office hours. And Ingoglia and Panhandle Republican House member Michelle Salzman have filed resolutions in their respective chambers to allow Florida voters to amend the state Constitution to place term limits on school board members and county commissioners. The proposals would limit those public officials to two four-year terms, or eight years overall. Democrats are also filing election bills ahead of the session. One measure sponsored by South Florida Democrats Felicia Robinson in the House (HB 489) and Tina Polsky in the Senate (SB 848) would require the Florida Commission on Offender Review to develop and maintain a central database for people who have been disqualified from voting based on felony convictions. The database would provide individuals with information regarding any remaining restitution owed to a victim as ordered by a court as part of their sentence, and any remaining fines or fees initially as ordered by the court, as well. This is legislation that voting rights advocates and Democrats have been pleading for since the passage of Amendment 4 in 2018, which allowed formerly incarcerated felons ('returning citizens') who had completed their sentences to have their voting rights restored. The GOP-controlled Legislature threw a curveball into the implementation of that measure during the 2019 session when they required those individuals to pay all legal financial obligations, which dramatically lowered the pool of eligible voters. The fact that the state has never created such a central database has led to confusion. Palm Beach County Democratic Sen. Lori Berman has filed legislation (SB 72) that would allow candidates to spend campaign funds for campaign-related childhood expenses if the expense derives from the candidates' campaigns. The measure has already been passed unanimously in one committee (a companion bill has been filed in the House by Sarasota Republican Fiona McFarland and Palm Beach Democrat Kelly Skidmore). Polsky (SB 1634)and Palm Beach Democratic Rep. Debra Tendrich (HB 1473) have filed legislation requiring that supervisors of elections who work in a county where the main campus of a Florida college or state university is located must establish at least one early voting site at that campus. Orlando-area Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith has filed two measures coming out of last fall's epic campaigns for recreational cannabis and abortion rights, both of which received well more than 50% support but fell short of the 60% required for passage. One measure would allow voters to have a do-over of the 2006 constitutional amendment that raised the threshold to pass such initiatives from 60% back down to 50%. Another measure would attempt to ban what is already against Florida law but that the DeSantis administration still did last year — use taxpayer dollars for public service announcements to lobby on statewide ballot initiatives. Smith's bill (SB 860), the 'Broadcast Freedom Protection Act' says that elected or appointed state officials found to be interfering with broadcasters' decisions to air political campaign advertisements, 'particularly those related to statewide ballot initiatives,' would face third degree felony charges. They also could be removed from office and permanently disqualified from holding any subsequent elected or appointed office. Tampa Bay area Democrat Michele Redner has filed a similar proposal in the House (HB 727) called the 'Public Resource Election Neutrality Act,' which would ban any state agency from producing, disseminating, or funding any public service announcement related to a statewide ballot initiative. Jacksonville area Democrat Kim Daniels has filed a bill (HB 109) that would allow photography at polling places and early voting sites at specific times. All Voting is Local Action Florida, a voting rights group, is calling for legislation that would expand early voting options; require supervisors of elections to detail how they spend their budgets; funding to update Florida's Voter Registration System; and a bill that requires all counties to provide the same level of language assistance to voters whose primary first language is Spanish. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Political polls would have to disclose sponsors under a GOP senator's bill
SB 528 would require pollsters to disclose their sponsors. (Stock photo by) Miami-Dade Republican Sen. Bryan Avila filed a bill Thursday requiring political pollsters to inform people who sponsored the poll before collecting responses. The bill, SB 528, would punish pollsters who don't disclose who is paying for the poll with a fine of up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail. Pollsters must include the disclosure at the beginning of polls conducted over text, at the beginning of a phone call, and in bold font of at least 12 points in emails. Polling operations out Florida Atlantic University and the University of North Florida wouldn't see much of a change if the bill passed, their directors told the Florida Phoenix. '[The bill] didn't faze me too much,' Kevin Wagner, co-director of the Florida Atlantic University Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab, said in a phone interview. 'As a matter of course, in both our intro and our outro, which is when we introduce a poll and when we leave, we always say Main Street research on behalf of Florida Atlantic University, so we do this anyway.' Michael Binder, who leads UNF's Public Opinion Research Lab, said the proposal wasn't likely to increase transparency. 'If you're trying to root out nefarious actors, I'm not sure how much this is going to help because they're just going say, 'This poll is paid for by the Democracy Fund or America Fund,' or whatever made-up name that given organization sticks on itself, so it's not gonna necessarily be super transparent about who is actually doing it anyway,' Binder said. Both polling experts said it could be harder for political parties and some candidates with fewer resources to conduct polls if the bill passed. 'Let's say you're polling for a political party and if you say, 'I'm doing this for the Republicans or the Democrats.' It may bias the people who are likely to respond to it or they may respond differently, and that could affect the kind of data that you could collect,' Wagner said. Avila's office did not respond to the Phoenix's requests for comment. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
