Voter Registration Agencies
All public libraries in Florida have been designated by the National Voter Registration Act (52 U.S.C. § 20506) and state law (97.058, Florida Statutes) to serve as a voter registration agency (VRA).
Any eligible U.S. citizen can register to vote at a VRA. The VRA must provide access to a voter registration form in hardcopy or online via registertovoteflorida.gov.
Unless an applicant declines help, your library staff must assist them to fill out the registration application or to update their voter record in the same way you would help them apply for a library card.
What VRAs must do
As stated in the Florida Administrative Code (1S-2.048), a VRA must:
- Designate a National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) Coordinator and notify the Florida Division of Elections of their name, contact information and any subsequent changes to this information. If a designation is not made, the Division of Library and Information Services provides the Division of Elections contact information for the public library system administrator.
- The library is responsible for providing training to library staff that will be carrying out the duties of the VRA. This can include in-house training, training offered by the County Supervisor of Elections’ office, or training by the Department of State’s NVRA Coordinator on voter registration responsibilities.
- See Libraries and Voting Sites and Voter Registration Agencies 2020 (PPT) for training information.
- Accept voter registration applications that users fill in on premises, drop off, or mail in.
- Forward all complete and incomplete hardcopy applications to the County Supervisor of Elections office within five calendar days of receipt.
- Send a quarterly email to Reporting@dos.myflorida.com with the number of hardcopy applications forwarded by the library to the Florida Division of Elections.
Reporting calendar for quarterly statistics
|
Quarter |
Report Period |
Due Date |
|
1 |
Jan 1 - March 31 |
April 15 |
|
2 |
April 1 - June 30 |
July 15 |
|
3 |
July 1 - Sept 30 |
Oct 15 |
|
4 |
Oct 1 - Dec 31 |
Jan 15 |
More VRA information
Refer to this DOE webpage for additional VRA information.
Contact us
Please review the cited Florida Statutes and Florida Administrative Code and contact the Bureau of Library Development at dlis.bld@dos.myflorida.com or the Division of Elections at VRA.Reporting@dos.myflorida.com if you have any questions about your library’s responsibilities serving as a VRA.
