Bill to give Florida’s party affiliation requirements more ‘teeth’ in elections clears first Senate hurdle

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 1/5/23-Rep. Kristen Aston Arrington, D-Kissimmee, during the House Ethics, Elections & Open Government Subcommittee, Thursday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

Legislation to make Florida’s existing political party rules more enforceable during elections is moving through the Legislature’s upper chamber.

Members of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee voted unanimously to advance a bill (SB 280) that would enable candidates and political parties to participate in enforcing the state’s party affiliation requirements in races for elected office.

The change is needed, according to the bill’s sponsor, Kissimmee Democratic Sen. Kristen Arrington, since a lack of enforcement ability makes the current rules more recommendations than mandates.

Florida law today requires each candidate running for public office to affirm several facts about their candidacy, including that they have either had no party affiliation or been a member of the political party whose nomination they’re seeking for 365 days before the beginning of qualifying for the General Election.

“Although the current law requires candidates to state such information and affirm (it) in writing, courts have found no mechanism by which the provision can be enforced,” Arrington said.

“This legislation would create a substantive requirement.”

SB 280, if passed, would create a legal route by which candidates and political parties can sue for injunctive relief — court intervention, essentially — if a person seeking office with a certain party affiliation did not comply with the state’s requirement to do so.

If a court then determines that person did not comply, they would be disqualified from placement on the ballot.

Before the committee voted for the bill Monday, Arrington amended the measure — and the panel OK’d the amendment — to make clear that the 365-day requirement refers to consecutive rather than cumulative days.

Asked by Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia why 365 days instead of six months, Arrington said that’s the standard now and her bill would just strengthen the law.

“It’s already in the current statute,” she said. “We’re just making this a little bit stronger so there’s teeth in it.”

Florida has had numerous instances of people filing to run for office under a certain party affiliation despite not meeting the state’s requirement of being a member of that party for at least a year.

In 2022, Florida Politics revealed that congressional candidate Curtis Calabrese was running illegally as a Democrat, having only been a member of the party for two weeks before he filed to run for Florida’s 22nd Congressional District. He dropped out of the race two months before the Primary.

In December, a candidate running for Florida’s 6th Congressional District did similarly.

But other candidates insisted on staying in the race even after it was pointed out that they ran afoul of Florida’s rules.

There was Wancito Francius, who remained on the Democratic Primary ballot for House District 107 last year despite falling six weeks short of the 365-day requirement.

Florida’s weak enforcement ability was known by then, due to a case involving former COVID dashboard operator Rebekah Jones. A three-Judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that Jones could stay on the 2022 Democratic Primary ballot even though she technically didn’t qualify.

Judge Scott Makar cited a “gap in the statute” governing party affiliation, adding that lawmakers “may wish to consider implementing a mechanism to decide, early on, the bona fides of a political Primary candidate’s party oath (because) currently one is lacking and requires that political party candidates be taken at their word, which is not likely to be sustainable.”

SB 280 will next go before the Senate Judiciary Committee, after which it has one more stop at the chamber’s Rules Committee before reaching a floor vote.

Its House companion by (HB 201) Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Allison Tant awaits a hearing before the first of two committees to which it was referred.