§ 101.5606, Fla. Stat. · Chapter 101. VOTING METHODS AND PROCEDURE
Requirements for approval of systems.
Not yet in force
The 2026 edition prints this section as amended by section 16 of chapter 2026-26, Laws of Florida, which takes effect January 1, 2027. Until then, the text in force does not include that amendment.
Text in force until December 31, 2026 — 2025 Florida Statutes
This is the text of section 101.5606 as printed in the 2025 Florida Statutes. Section 16 of chapter 2026-26, Laws of Florida changes it effective January 1, 2027; the 2026 edition prints the changed text. No 2026 act changes this section with an earlier effective date (the section's own history line names no other 2026 act). BenchPath derived this from the acts' effective-date clauses; confirm with the official publisher before relying on it.
No electronic or electromechanical voting system shall be approved by the Department of State unless it is so constructed that:
(1) It permits and requires voting in secrecy.
(2) It permits each elector to vote at any election for all persons and offices for whom and for which the elector is lawfully entitled to vote, and no others; to vote for as many persons for an office as the elector is entitled to vote for; and to vote for or against any question upon which the elector is entitled to vote.
(3) It immediately rejects a ballot where the number of votes for an office or measure exceeds the number which the voter is entitled to cast or where the tabulating equipment reads the ballot as a ballot with no votes cast.
(4) For systems using marksense ballots, it accepts a rejected ballot pursuant to subsection (3) if a voter chooses to cast the ballot, but records no vote for any office that has been overvoted or undervoted.
(5) It is capable of correctly counting votes.
(6) It permits each voter at a primary election to vote only for the candidates seeking nomination by the political party in which such voter is registered, for any candidate for nonpartisan office, and for any question upon which the voter is entitled to vote.
(7) At presidential elections it permits each elector, by one operation, to vote for all presidential electors of a party or for all presidential electors of candidates for President and Vice President with no party affiliation.
(8) It provides a method for write-in voting.
(9) It is capable of accumulating a count of the specific number of ballots tallied for a precinct, accumulating total votes by candidate for each office, and accumulating total votes for and against each question and issue of the ballots tallied for a precinct.
(10) It is capable of tallying votes from ballots of different political parties from the same precinct, in the case of a primary election.
(11) It is capable of automatically producing precinct totals in printed form.
(12) If it is of a type which registers votes electronically, it will permit each voter to change his or her vote for any candidate or upon any question appearing on the official ballot up to the time that the voter takes the final step to register his or her vote and to have the vote computed.
(13) It is capable of providing records from which the operation of the voting system may be audited.
(14) It uses a precinct-count tabulation system.
(15) It does not use an apparatus or device for the piercing of ballots by the voter.
Source: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0101/0101.html&StatuteYear=2025 · sha256 f959d680e6ecf78d186728263f2adf1db6c0be0326fbe0ca539d1949de38c0a5
Text — 2026 Florida Statutes (as printed, with the change not yet in force)
No electronic or electromechanical voting system shall be approved by the Department of State unless it is so constructed that:
(1) It permits and requires voting in secrecy.
(2) It permits each elector to vote at any election for all persons and offices for whom and for which the elector is lawfully entitled to vote, and no others; to vote for as many persons for an office as the elector is entitled to vote for; and to vote for or against any question upon which the elector is entitled to vote.
(3) It immediately rejects a ballot where the number of votes for an office or measure exceeds the number which the voter is entitled to cast or where the tabulating equipment reads the ballot as a ballot with no votes cast.
(4) It accepts a rejected ballot pursuant to subsection (3) if a voter chooses to cast the ballot, but records no vote for any office that has been overvoted or undervoted.
(5) It is capable of correctly counting votes.
(6) It permits each voter at a primary election to vote only for the candidates seeking nomination by the political party in which such voter is registered, for any candidate for nonpartisan office, and for any question upon which the voter is entitled to vote.
(7) At presidential elections it permits each elector, by one operation, to vote for all presidential electors of a party or for all presidential electors of candidates for President and Vice President with no party affiliation.
(8) It provides a method for write-in voting.
(9) It is capable of accumulating a count of the specific number of ballots tallied for a precinct, accumulating total votes by candidate for each office, and accumulating total votes for and against each question and issue of the ballots tallied for a precinct.
(10) It is capable of tallying votes from ballots of different political parties from the same precinct, in the case of a primary election.
(11) It is capable of automatically producing precinct totals in printed form.
(12) If it is of a type which registers votes electronically, it will permit each voter to change his or her vote for any candidate or upon any question appearing on the official ballot up to the time that the voter takes the final step to register his or her vote and to have the vote computed.
(13) It is capable of providing records from which the operation of the voting system may be audited.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
s. 6, ch. 73-156; s. 21, ch. 77-175; s. 10, ch. 84-302; s. 10, ch. 89-348; s. 578, ch. 95-147; s. 17, ch. 99-318; s. 18, ch. 2001-40; s. 10, ch. 2002-17; s. 35, ch. 2005-277; s. 32, ch. 2011-40; s. 16, ch. 2026-26.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 Florida Statutes
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0101/0101.html
- Text hash
- sha256 f753045f8fcd70e25eee5d6afdbf4369779375b00d51f2c9063619f7b057f5b5
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
- composed from the Legislature's structured HTML (one source of text; no PDF extraction); a second, independent reading of the same bytes agrees character for character
- L6-03: 1 change(s) from the 2026 Laws of Florida take effect after 2026-10-04
Cited by 2 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites § 101.5606, Fla. Stat.. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
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