National Voter Registration Act - Workshop Summary

Some NEFLIN members, including Paul Stella and Janet Loveless of Nassau County Public Library, recently attended a workshop on the National Voter Registration Act.

Paul shares these notes from the training as our guest blogger for those who could not attend. Thank you, Paul!

National Voter Registration Act

Trainer: Maria Isabel Matthews, Asst. General Counsel, Florida Dept. of State

Introduction: The NVRA became Public Law 103-31 on May 20, 1993. Under Section 7, the law designates voter registration agencies for registration of voters in elections for Federal office.

State and local government offices, including public libraries are designated voter registration agencies under Section 7. The following services are required of EACH agency:

Distribution of mail voter registration application forms;

1. Assistance to applicants in completing voter registration application forms;
2. Acceptance of completed voter registration application forms for transmittal to the appropriate State election official. The agency must forward all completed and incomplete voter registration applications within 5 days after receipt to the Supervisor of Elections of the county.

A person providing voter registration assistance may NOT:

1. Seek to influence an applicant’s political or party registration preference;
2. Display any political preference or party allegiance;
3. Make any statement or take any action the purpose or effect of which is to discourage the applicant from registering to vote; or
4. Disclose any applicant’s voter registration information except as needed for the administration of voter registrations.

In January 2006 all individual county voter registration systems were merged into a statewide database known as the Florida Voter Registration System, or FVRS, see http://election.dos.state.fl.us/HAVA/FVRS/index.shtml Any Florida resident may register in any county in the State, regardless of his or her county of residence. Address changes can also be made without re-registering to vote.

General Procedures @ the Library

What are you required to do?

1. Each time someone applies for a library card, renews a library card or changes address, offer that customer the opportunity to apply for new voter registration in Florida or to update his or her Florida registration record. Use the mail-in application form or direct the customer to online registration at: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voter-registration/voter-reg.shtml
2. Keep current 2008 application forms in English and Spanish. Forms can be printed from the Florida Division of Elections website (see #1 above) and photocopied as needed. The red, white and blue forms from 2006 are good through Dec. 31, 2008. Discard blank application forms dated older than 2006.
3. Place the current copies of voter registration application forms near workstations. Do not force the customer to walk to a designated spot to find the forms.

To whom do you offer it?

1. Customers who are U.S. citizens 18 years old or older;
2. A “preregistrant” –anyone as young as 15 years old who is being issued or has been issued a driver’s license or learner’s permit. Parental or guardian approval/signature is not required. (Preregistrants are placed on a list until they turn 18 years old – they are not officially registered to vote). Legislative update: 2008 Legislature passed Senate Bill 866. Effective January 2009 the class of preregistrants changes to anyone between ages 16-18. The applicant may vote in any election after that person’s 18th birthday. See amendment to section #2 of 97.041, Florida Statutes http://laws.flrules.org/files/Ch_2008-095.pdf

Assistance – what do you do?

1. Be sure the person reads the instructions completely. Focus on assisting the customer to complete the required fields (in red or black); You should not determine someone’s eligibility – this is the responsibility of the Supervisor of Elections.
2. No one can sign for an applicant, not even a parent. A person can sign with an “X” if he or she is incapable of signing due to disability.

Accepting applications – where do they go?

1. Send all applications “as is” even if there are blanks on the application.
2. If hand-delivered, stamp the application “Received on” and the date. Do not indicate library branch or address near the date stamp.
3. If mailed-in, keep envelope with mailed-in application. Do not discard post-mark envelope, regardless of whether post-mark date is legible. Applications may be sent US mail to the Supervisor of Elections in your county.

2008 election dates:

Primary election – August 26, 2008;
General election – Nov. 4, 2008

Dates registration books will close:

Primary election – July 28, 2008;
General election – Oct. 6, 2008. (Registrations close by the 29th day before the election).

For further information contact:

• Florida Division of Elections, Room 316, R.A. Gray Building, 500 Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Fl. 32399-0250, Tel. 850.245.6200, Fax 850.245.6237

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/

• Listing of County Supervisor of Elections in Florida: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/SOE/supervisor_election_list.shtml

To order stock voter’s registration applications, or alternate formats (large print, braille) contact the NVRA Administrator Suzie Still, Burea of Voter Registration Services at the Florida Division of Elections (same address and telephone), or e-mail sstill@dos.state.fl.us

To download a copy of the PowerPoint presentation of this workshop, visit http://election.dos.state.fl.us/NVRA/index.shtml