Florida Statute 101.572 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title IX
ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS

Chapter 101
VOTING METHODS AND PROCEDURE

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101.572 Public inspection of ballots.—

(1) The official ballots and ballot cards received from election boards and removed from vote-by-mail ballot mailing envelopes and voter certificates on such mailing envelopes shall be open for public inspection or examination while in the custody of the supervisor of elections or the county canvassing board at any reasonable time, under reasonable conditions; however, no persons other than the supervisor of elections or his or her employees or the county canvassing board shall handle any official ballot or ballot card. If the ballots are being examined prior to the end of the contest period in s. 102.168, the supervisor of elections shall make a reasonable effort to notify all candidates whose names appear on such ballots or ballot cards by telephone or otherwise of the time and place of the inspection or examination. All such candidates, or their representatives, shall be allowed to be present during the inspection or examination.

(2) A candidate, a political party official, or a political committee official, or an authorized designee thereof, shall be granted reasonable access upon request to review or inspect ballot materials before canvassing or tabulation, including voter certificates on vote-by-mail envelopes, cure affidavits, corresponding comparison signatures, duplicate ballots, and corresponding originals. Before the supervisor begins comparing signatures on vote-by-mail voter certificates, the supervisor must publish notice of the access to be provided under this section, which may be access to the documents or images thereof, and the method of requesting such access. During such review, no person granted access for review may make any copy of a signature.

History.—s. 2, ch. 86-199; s. 583, ch. 95-147; s. 39, ch. 2005-277; s. 13, ch. 2016-37; s. 21, ch. 2021-11.

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Amendments to 101.572

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 101.572

Total Results: 3 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Sarasota All. for Fair Elections, Inc. v. Browning, 28 So. 3d 880 (Fla. 2010).

Cited 15 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 35 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 101, 2010 Fla. LEXIS 218, 2010 WL 455276

...tutes would prevail. See Citizens for Responsible Growth v. City of St. Pete Beach, 940 So.2d 1144, 1147 (Fla. 2 DCA 2006) ("Concurrent legislation by [local government] may not conflict with state law. If conflict arises, state law prevails."). [2] Section 101.572, Florida Statutes (2006), which authorizes public inspection of the official ballots, also provides that "no persons other than the supervisor of elections or his or her employees or the county canvassing board shall handle any offici...

...uditing firm could conduct the audits without touching the ballots. SAFE asserted that the supervisor of elections or his or her employees or the county canvassing board would be responsible for handling the ballots during the audits, as provided in section 101.572 when a public inspection of ballots is requested....

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Browning v. Sarasota All., 968 So. 2d 637 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007).

Cited 8 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2007 WL 3170111

...2d DCA 2006) (noting that when interpreting a statute, the "`express mention of one thing is the exclusion of another'" (quoting Inman v. State, 916 So.2d 59, 61 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005))). Therefore, audits other than those outlined by section 101.591 conflict with the Election Code and are not permissible. In addition, section 101.572 of the Election Code, styled "Public Inspection of Ballots," provides that no person other than the supervisor of elections, the supervisor's employees, or the county canvassing board can handle official ballots....

...urt that his office had imposed certain audit procedures to assure electronic vote count accuracy. [17] For example, the election code limits the handling of ballots to employees of the office of the supervisor of elections, or the canvassing board, § 101.572, while the amendment requires that audits be performed by an independent auditing firm.

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Jud. Watch, Inc. v. Carroll, 776 So. 2d 300 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000).

Cited 1 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2000 WL 1873011

...Bush, the Republican Party of Florida, and the Republican Party of Broward County. *302 WARNER, C.J. Petitioner, Judicial Watch, filed a notice of appeal from an order requiring the Supervisor of Elections to comply with the notice provisions of sections 101.572 and 119.07(1)(c), Florida Statutes (2000), before allowing public inspection and examination of ballots cast in Broward County in the November 7, 2000, election....

...he fact that counsel for Governor Bush had subpoenaed these same ballots in that proceeding. The trial court expressed concern as to whether notice of the inspection had been given to all candidates whose names appeared on the ballots as required by section 101.572....