Judicial candidate filed campaign paperwork too late, appeals court says

Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal

A state appeals court has blocked Clay County judicial candidate Lucy Ann Hoover from appearing on the ballot because she filed her paperwork too late.

“We recognize that the public policy of Florida generally favors letting the people decide the ultimate qualifications of candidates,” the 1st District Court of Appeal concluded Wednesday, in an opinion by Judge T. Kent Wetherell II. Judges Ross L. Bilbrey and M. Kemmerly Thomas concurred.

“However, absent special circumstances, public policy considerations cannot override the clear and unambiguous statutory requirement that all of the candidate’s qualifying paperwork must be received by the filing officer by the end of the qualifying period.”

The court upheld a trial judge in the 7th Judicial Circuit, who heard the case because it originated with a motion filed by incumbent Clay County Judge Kristina Mobley. Gov. Rick Scott placed her on the bench in 2015.

Record show Hoover arrived at the county supervisor of elections office at 11:55 a.m. on May 4, just shy of the noon deadline. She filed her qualifying check at 11:57, but her candidate oath came in at 12:01 and her financial disclosure form at 12:12.

The office accepted the late documents, and certified Hoover as a candidate, under a policy of requiring only that prospective candidates be physically present and filling out their paperwork before the deadline falls.

Mobley then went to court to have Hoover’s name stripped from the ballot.

Hoover, a visiting professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of North Florida, cited a 1st DCA precedent allowing a legislative candidate to appear on the ballot under a similar policy maintained by Florida’s secretary of state.

But that was because an aide to the candidate was misdirected inside a crowded and confused elections office, Wetherell wrote, and had the paperwork completed and ready to file. By contrast, Hoover was the only candidate inside the local supervisor’s office.

“Here, there were no special circumstances that would excuse Hoover’s failure to meet the qualifying deadline, but rather … this is simply a case of a prospective candidate missing the qualifying deadline because she waited until too late to complete the necessary paperwork,” the opinion says.