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April 29, 2025 Page Two (2) The Florida Legislature has proposed changes to the initiative petition process. The legislative changes include: • For ALL valid initiative petition forms submitted to the Supervisor of Elections office, SOEs must send a notice to the voter providing the opportunity for the voter to check a box indicating that their signature was misrepresented or forged, or if the voter would like to revoke their signature from the petition. The notice must be sent by forwardable mail with a postage prepaid, preaddressed response card • SOEs must electronically transmit ALL initiative petition forms to the Division of Elections No later than March 15 following the petition deadline, SOEs must deliver ALL physical forms to the Division of Elections In the event that this legislation is signed into law, petition verification costs will substantially increase due to the notice requirements, additional postage costs, and staff resources. It is unknown if the new restrictions placed on paid petition circulators will have an effect on the quantity of petitions submitted for signature verification. (Note: During the 2023 — 2024 election cycle: total verified initiative petitions 17,469, of which 13,490 were valid). • Instead of making an educated guess regarding the anticipated number of initiative petitions submitted by paid circulators for verification and including the added costs in my FY 2025 — 2026 budget, I believe that it would be more cost effective at a later date, to ask the Board of County Commissioners to roll back the actual fees collected for petition verification into my 2025 — 2026 budget. The team at the Elections Office have worked diligently to project the necessary costs contained in this proposed budget, while ensuing efficient use of county resources. I respectfully submit the attached FY 2025 - 2026 proposed budget for the Supervisor of Elections office in the amount of $2,421,325. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or require further details regarding this budget Sincerely yours, Leslie Rossway Swan Supervisor of Elections cc: Kristin Daniels, Director, Office of Management & Budget Enclosures • 151