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Key terms

• HAVA: The Help America Vote Act of 2002, an important voting law 
• Voting system: All instructions and equipment used to cast a ballot  
• Ballot: Where you say who you want to vote for 
• Provisional Ballot: A special type of ballot that needs to be double checked before your vote is counted 
• Title: Section of a law 

Your Rights Under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) 

• The right to vote is important.  
• People with disabilities have voting rights. 
• In 2002, President George W. Bush signed a voting law called the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
• This law made helpful changes for voters with disabilities.  

Your Rights Under HAVA Title III:

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) did a few things to help people with disabilities vote.  

HAVA guarantees people with disabilities the right to vote privately and independently.  

HAVA also requires at least one accessible voting machine at each voting site.  

It also made voting systems follow a few rules to help you vote. The voting system must:  

• Allow you to check what you voted for before you submit your ballot.
• Allow you to change your response or correct any errors you find when you review your ballot. 
  • Electronic systems will tell you if you picked too many candidates or responses.
  • For example, if you voted for 3 people for governor, it would tell you that you could only pick 1, and the machine would offer you the option to fix the error. 
• Provide alternative language accessibility.
• Allow you a final chance to correct your ballot before you submit it. 

Additionally, HAVA Title III created:

• Guidelines for when voting machines make mistakes. 
• The requirement that each state defines what voting means, and when a vote counts. This must be the same for everyone. 
• The right to a provisional ballot if your information needs to be double checked before your vote is counted. 
• Rules about how to keep voter registration lists and other information safe. 
   

How to File a Complaint

If you face problems with the voting process, you can submit a complaint.  

Where to find the complaint form 

The complaint form is on the Florida Department of State website.

• HAVA Complaint Form In English
• HAVA Complaint Form In Spanish
   

Parts of the Complaint Form 

The complaint form has three parts.

• Contact information 
  1. On the form, it says, ‘Person Bringing Complaint’ and ‘Person or Entity Against Whom Complaint is Brought’ 
  2. You are the ‘Person Bringing Complaint.’ Add Your Name, phone, and address in this section.  
  3. Next, add the contact information for the person or entity you are complaining about for ‘Person or Entity Against Whom Complaint is Brought.’ Usually, people write the Secretary of State because the Secretary of State’s job is to confirm election results.  
• Describe the Violation  
  1. Write what happened, or what the person or place you're complaining about did. This should be the same person or place you listed above. 
  2. Tell them specific things they did, or may do, that you think are against the law. 
• Statement of facts 
  1. This is the longest and most important part of the form.
  2. This is where you talk about what happened at the poll site. Include relevant information about the issue. 
     1. What day was it? 
     2. What time was it? 
     3. Where did it happen? 
     4. Who was there? If possible, share people’s names and phone numbers. These can be people who saw your issue happen, or other people who faced the same issue are you. 

You must handwrite your complaint. If you cannot write, you can have someone write it for you, but afterwards you must take it to a notary and sign it there. The notary will make it an official document that you can submit. 

You can submit your complaint to either the Florida Division of Elections or your local county election office.  

After you submit the complaint

• The Department of State will decide if your complaint showed a violation of the law. 
• If you disagree with their opinion, you can request a hearing on the record.  
  1. This means you are asking for an explanation about the result.  
  2. You are asking them to look deeper into the issue.
• The Department of State will gather information from everyone about the incident.
• Once they get all the information, the state will determine if there is a violation or not. 

If a violation of the law happened → the state will work to fix it.

If a violation of the law didn’t happen → the state will dismiss the complaint and post their decision online.

Once you file the complaint, the state has 90 days to make a decision. 

If they don’t make a decision within those 90 days, they will ask you if they can have more time to investigate. Only you can extend the deadline (more than 90 days).  

If you do not extend the deadline, the state has 60 days to come to a compromise with you. This is called an alternative dispute resolution, and a judge will make a decision. 

Contacting Disability Rights Florida

Call our Disability Voting Rights Hotline at 877-352-7337 if you have an issue with voting or registering to vote due to a disability.

The information provided herein does not constitute legal representation or advice.