Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 830 Absentee Ballots RESOLUTION NO.~ 830 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF \vrNTER SPRINGS, SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA EST ABLISlllNG SECURITY PROCEDURES REGARDING ABSENTEE BALLOTS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR DISTRIBUTION, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Winter Springs desires to maintain the highest standards of adherence to pertinent state election laws and to maintain the utmost integrity regarding the administration of local municipal elections, and WHEREAS, the 1995 Session of the Legislature enacted House Bill Number 2209, an act relating to municipal elections applying the election code to municipalities, and WHEREAS, it behooves the City Commission of the City of Winter Springs to establish procedures regulating the issuance, maintenance, and completion of absentee ballots in municipal elections. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I: Security procedures are hereby established regarding the issuance, maintenance and completion of absentee ballots in municipal elections as set forth herein within Exhibit "A" appended hereto. SECTION II: If any section, sentence, clause or phrase of said security procedures is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, then said holding shall in no way affect the validity of the remaining portion of said procedures. SECTION III: A copy of this Resolution and said Exhibit "A" shall be forwarded to the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections in a timely manner. SECTION IV: This Resolution shall remam 10 full force and effect until supplemented, amended, repealed or otherwise altered. SECTION V: This Resolution shall take effect upon its adoption. PASSEDANDADOPTEDTHIS4..ftJ-DAYOF ~ ,1997. ATTEST: cjL~ - Approved as to form and legality: Frank Kruppenbacher City Attorney Exhibit "A", Res. No. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS SECURITY PROCEDURES REGARDING ABSENTEE BALLOTS City of Winter Springs 1126 East State Road 434 Winter Springs, Florida 32708 Telephone: (407) 327-1800 Margo M. Hopkins, City Clerk POLICY: ISSUANCE OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS Based upon Florida Statute, 101.62 and the City's desire to maintain the highest standards of adherence to pertinent state election laws and to maintain the utmost integrity regarding the administration of local municipal elections, the following shall be the policy of the City of Winter Springs regarding the issuance, maintenance, and completion of absentee ballots: (Note: The designation of City Clerk, Deputy City Clerk shall apply with the procedures listed herein in accordance with the laws of the City of Winter Springs; however, for concise reading, the classification of City Clerk has been utilized herein.) 1. Upon delivery of the absentee ballots to the City Clerk by the Seminole County Elections Department, the ballots shall be inspected for numerical sequence and completeness. Upon signature of receipt by the City Clerk on the appropriate form as supplied by the Seminole County Elections Department, the City Clerk shall deposit the absentee ballots and all accompanying pertinent materials in the city vault located within Room 229, Municipal Building. The City Clerk shall remove the ballot materials from the vault for the purposes of the issuance, maintenance, and completion of the ballots, returning the absentee ballots to the security of the vault upon the execution of assigned work involving the absentee ballots. 2. Requests for absentee ballots from registered voters in good standing within the municipal boundaries of the City of Winter Springs shall be accepted by the City Clerk in person, by mail, by telephone or by facsimile machine. All such requests shall be placed on the city's approved absentee ballot request form in writing by the actual petitioner/elector or in writing by the City Clerk, if the request is made by telephone, facsimile machine or through written correspondence. All requests made by facsimile machine or through written correspondence shall be appended to the city approved absentee ballot request form in addition to the form being executed by the City Clerk. The City Clerk shall make every effort to determine the request is, in fact, made by a registered voter in good standing with the municipal boundaries of the City of Winter Springs as listed with, and by, the Seminole County Elections Department. Said confirmation shall be made in a timely manner so as not to impede the delivery of the absentee ballot to the petitioner. Page 1 of 6 In the event the petition is not determined to be on the current Seminole County Registered Voter's list as supplied by Seminole County to the municipality, the City Clerk shall telephonically contact the County Elections Department to ascertain the standing of said petitioner in a timely manner, i.e., to ascertain whether said petitioner is a registered voter within the City of Winter Springs, and proceed according to infonnation supplied by the County Elections Department as to whether an absentee ballot shall be mailed or provided in person to the petitioner. In the event the City Clerk determines the petitioner is not a registered voter in good standing, as set forth above, the Clerk shall make every effort via telephone or the mail service to notifY the petitioner that an absentee ballot will not be forwarded and that the elector/petitioner should contact the Seminole County Elections Department concerning the status of their voter registration. The City Clerk shall determine the good standing of the absentee voter by ascertaining that the petitioner is listed on the current Seminole County Registered Voter's List as compiled by the Seminole County Elections Department at the close of the voter registration books in accordance with prescribed law prior to said election. If the City Clerk determines a request for an absentee ballot is being made by an individual who has moved outside the city limits, and said individual has not changed his or her voter's registration to the new precinct, the City Clerk shall notifY the petitioner/elector verbally or in writing that said elector/petitioner shall contact the Seminole County Elections Department and vote in accordance with prescribed election law. The City Clerk shall not knowingly provide an absentee ballot to any registered voter who moved from the Winter Springs city limits and failed to notifY the County Elections Department that he or she is residing in a new precinct. The City Clerk shall in no manner accept the responsibility to personally determine the true identity of any petitioner who claims to be a registered voter/petitioner within the city limits of Winter Springs except the City Clerk shall request to see personal identification, driver license and/or a voter's registration I.D. card and shall determine the petitioner/elector is a registered voter as prescribed above prior to issuing an absentee ballot in person to an elector/petitioner. In the event the petitioner/elector has lost said voter's I.D. card, the City Clerk shall assist the petitioner in the process of obtaining a new voter's I.D. card and may upon the production of other personal identification by the petitioner issue an absentee ballot to the petitioner/elector if the elector's name is found to be in good standing with the Seminole County Elections Department. All such irregularities shall be listed by the City Clerk within the comment section of the absentee ballot log maintained for the purpose of tracking the requests and distribution and return of absentee ballots. 3. The City Clerk, in accordance with prescribed election laws, shall correspond in advance of municipal election dates with registered voters living outside of Seminole County to provide written notice of a scheduled election, in accordance with prescribed election laws, in order that the elector may make a request for an absentee Page 2 of 6 ballot. Requests for absentee ballots over the telephone or facsimile machine shall be accepted by the City Clerk from said elector or from a person designated by the elector to make such a request. The City Clerk shall note on the comment section of a log maintained for the purpose of tracking the requests, distribution and return of absentee ballots, the reason for any request made by an individual other than the elector or the elector's immediate family. Hand carried absentee ballots shall be so noted within the comment section of the absentee ballot log. The City Clerk shall provide by mail, in person or by facsimile machine, any number of blank city approved absentee ballot request forms to any individual requesting said request forms, but shall only accept such forms when fully executed and signed by an elector/registered voter whose name is in good standing with the Seminole County Elections Department as a registered voter within the City of Winter Springs. In the event said request form is returned without pertinent information and/or no signature of the elector/registered voter, the City Clerk shall make an effort to contact the petitioner concerning these matters. The City Clerk shall compare signatures on all fully executed, returned absentee ballots with the registered voters' signatures on file in the Seminole County Elections Department prior to the counting of the absentee ballots; however, the City Clerk shall not be required or responsible to compare signatures on returned absentee ballot request forms. Any returned absentee ballots which come under question by the City Clerk due to factors relating to missing information or questionable information on the absentee ballot, including signatures, shall be presented to the canvassing board, as formulated under the City Charter, for a final decision concerning the acceptance or denial of the absentee ballot prior to the counting of the absentee ballots. All signatures on the absentee ballots shall be verified by the City Clerk through the use of the files located in the Seminole County Elections Department prior to being counted in said election. 4. The City Clerk shall maintain a log of absentee ballots noting the name, address to which ballot is sent, the date the request was received, ballot number, the date the ballot was mailed, the date the ballot was returned, and any special comments. 5. Requests for physical absentee ballots to be picked up by a person designated by the elector and delivered by that designee to the elector shall be accepted under the following conditions: a. The designee must provide written authorization from the elector, naming the designee and specifYing for which election the absentee ballot is being requested. Such written permission shall be appended to the city's approved absentee ballot request form. Page 3 of 6 b. A designee is limited to pick up and deliver a total of one absentee ballot per election unless the designee is picking up ballots for two electors living at the same address, in which case, a maximum of two absentee ballots per election may be picked up and delivered by the designee. A primary and a general election shall be considered as separate elections for the purposes of this policy. c. Said designee shall provide personal identification in the form of a driver's license, social security card or other similar identification deemed sufficient by the City Clerk prior to hand carrying any absentee ballot as prescribed above. 6. In no case shall the City Clerk provide an absentee ballot to a candidate except for use by the candidate personally or for a member of said candidate's immediate family when the conditions under policy number five above have been met thereby designating said candidate to pick up and deliver an absentee ballot to said elector. 7. Absentee ballots shall be accepted by the City Clerk until 7:00 p.m. election night where upon the absentee ballots shall be delivered by the City Clerk to the Seminole County Elections Department by transmittal in the company of two poll workers in the event the absentee ballots are delivered to the Seminole County Elections Department in Sanford, Florida for counting. In the event it is determined by the County Elections Department that the absentee ballots are to be counted by the duly established canvassing board in a local precinct within the city limits, the City Clerk, in whose custody the absentee ballots have remained, shall remove the ballots and relevant materials, as required by the Seminole County Elections Department, from the city vault at 7:00 p.m. on the evening of the election and hand carry them to the canvassing board convened within the local precinct for their tabulation by said board. The absentee ballots ( and other pertinent papers as prescribed by the Seminole County Elections Department) shall be delivered to the offices and counted by the canvassing board in accordance with the Winter Springs Municipal Charter. The City Clerk shall then retain the official absent elector's ballot envelopes containing the voter's certificate, the original absentee ballot log, and the absentee ballot request forms with appended number sequenced absentee ballots stubs within the city vault upon the conclusion of said election for the time period prescribed by law. The City Clerk shall provide a Xerox copy of the absentee ballot log to the Seminole County Elections Department at the time of the absentee ballot canvassing. The City Commission shall, in accordance with the Winter Springs City Charter, certify the election results at the next regular scheduled meeting of the City Commission. Page 4 of 6 REQUEST FOR 'ABSENTEE BALLOT CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS 1996 GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION VOTER I.D. # PRECINCT # VOTER NAME VOTER ADDRESS VOTER BIRTH DATE: VOTER BIRTH PLACE: VOTER TELEPHONE NUMBER (LOCAL): VOTER TELEPHONE NUMBER (OUT OF TOWN): MAILING ADDRESS FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT: (Where to mail the absentee ballot) I HEREBY REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT FOR: Non-Partisan General Municipal Election--November 5, 1996 Signature of Voter Requesting Absentee Ballot: Date: Signature of Clerk: DATE REQUEST RECEIVED: Fax Request (attach fax) Telephone Request Written Correspondence Request (attach Correspondence) Page 5 of 6 RECORD OF ABSENT ELECTORS PRECINCT NO. GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION, NOVEMBER 1996 BALLOT DATE DATE BALLOT DATE BALLOT NAME ADDRESS TO WHICH BALLOT SENT APPLICATION comments NUMBER RECEIVED MAILED RECEIVED I Page 6 of 6