Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 99.012 (2025)
Restrictions on individuals qualifying for public office.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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99.012 Restrictions on individuals qualifying for public office.—
(1) As used in this section:
(a) “Officer” means a person, whether elected or appointed, who has the authority to exercise the sovereign power of the state pertaining to an office recognized under the State Constitution or laws of the state. With respect to a municipality, the term “officer” means a person, whether elected or appointed, who has the authority to exercise municipal power as provided by the State Constitution, state laws, or municipal charter.
(c) “Subordinate officer” means a person who has been delegated the authority to exercise the sovereign power of the state by an officer. With respect to a municipality, subordinate officer means a person who has been delegated the authority to exercise municipal power by an officer.
(2) No person may qualify as a candidate for more than one public office, whether federal, state, district, county, or municipal, if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other.
(3)(a) No officer may qualify as a candidate for another state, district, county, or municipal public office if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other without resigning from the office he or she presently holds.
(b) The resignation is irrevocable.
(c) The written resignation must be submitted at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.
(d) The resignation must be effective no later than the earlier of the following dates:
1. The date the officer would take office, if elected; or
2. The date the officer’s successor is required to take office.
(e)1. An elected district, county, or municipal officer must submit his or her resignation to the officer before whom he or she qualified for the office he or she holds, with a copy to the Governor and the Department of State.
2. An appointed district, county, or municipal officer must submit his or her resignation to the officer or authority which appointed him or her to the office he or she holds, with a copy to the Governor and the Department of State.
3. All other officers must submit their resignations to the Governor with a copy to the Department of State.
(f) The office is deemed vacant upon the effective date of the resignation submitted by the official in his or her letter of resignation.
(g) Any officer who submits his or her resignation, effective immediately or effective on a date prior to the date of his or her qualifying for office, may then qualify for office as a nonofficeholder, and the provisions of this subsection do not apply.
(4)(a) Any officer who qualifies for federal public office must resign from the office he or she presently holds if the terms, or any part thereof, run concurrently with each other.
(b) The resignation is irrevocable.
(c) The resignation must be submitted at least 10 days before the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.
(d) The written resignation must be effective no later than the earlier of the following dates:
1. The date the officer would take office, if elected; or
2. The date the officer’s successor is required to take office.
(e)1. An elected district, county, or municipal officer shall submit his or her resignation to the officer before whom he or she qualified for the office he or she holds, with a copy to the Governor and the Department of State.
2. An appointed district, county, or municipal officer shall submit his or her resignation to the officer or authority which appointed him or her to the office he or she holds, with a copy to the Governor and the Department of State.
3. All other officers shall submit their resignations to the Governor with a copy to the Department of State.
(f)1. The failure of an officer who qualifies for federal public office to submit a resignation pursuant to this subsection constitutes an automatic irrevocable resignation, effective immediately, from the office he or she presently holds.
2. The Department of State shall send a notice of the automatic resignation to the Governor, and in the case of a district, county, or municipal officer, a copy to:
a. The officer before whom he or she qualified if the officer held an elective office; or
b. The officer or authority who appointed him or her if the officer held an appointive office.
(g) The office is deemed vacant upon the effective date of the resignation submitted by the official in his or her letter of resignation.
(5) A person who is a subordinate officer, deputy sheriff, or police officer must resign effective upon qualifying pursuant to this chapter if the person is seeking to qualify for a public office that is currently held by an officer who has authority to appoint, employ, promote, or otherwise supervise that person and who has qualified as a candidate for reelection to that office.
(6) If an order of a court that has become final determines that a person did not comply with this section, the person shall not be qualified as a candidate for election and his or her name may not appear on the ballot.
(7) This section does not apply to:
(a) Political party offices.
(b) Persons serving without salary as members of an appointive board or authority.
(c) Persons seeking the office of President or Vice President of the United States.
(8) Subsections (3) and (4) do not apply to persons holding any federal office. Subsection (4) does not apply to an elected officer if the term of the office that he or she presently holds is scheduled to expire and be filled by election in the same primary and general election period as the federal office he or she is seeking.
History.—s. 1, ch. 63-269; s. 2, ch. 65-378; s. 1, ch. 70-80; s. 10, ch. 71-373; s. 1, ch. 74-76; s. 3, ch. 75-196; s. 1, ch. 79-391; s. 47, ch. 81-259; s. 1, ch. 83-15; s. 28, ch. 84-302; s. 31, ch. 91-107; s. 534, ch. 95-147; s. 1, ch. 99-146; s. 1, ch. 2000-274; s. 14, ch. 2007-30; s. 14, ch. 2008-4; s. 9, ch. 2008-95; s. 12, ch. 2011-40; s. 1, ch. 2018-126; s. 11, ch. 2021-11; s. 13, ch. 2023-120.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 41
cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1970–2025 · leading case: City of Hialeah v. Martinez, 402 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981).
City of Hialeah v. Martinez, 402 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). “" Since the general law of the state, Section 99.012, Florida Statutes (1981), permits Martinez, whose term as a councilman is not concurrent with the term of the Mayor's office he seeks, to run without resigning, the City's Charter provision which places a greater restriction…”
Smith v. Crawford, 645 So. 2d 513 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). “*520 The trial court properly rejected Bob Crawford's argument that the plain language of subsection 99.012(2), Florida Statutes (1993), prohibits any person who has qualified to run for political office from later withdrawing from that race and qualifying to run for any other…”
Lewis v. City of Tampa, 64 So. 3d 143 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “” Plaintiff swore, under the Oath of Candidate, “that he has resigned from any office from which he is required to resign pursuant to Section 99.012, Florida Statutes.” Hence, when Plaintiff signed the Oath of Candidate, he made a sworn affirmation of resignation.”
Advisory Opinion to the Governor re Sheriff & Jud. Vacancies Due to Resignations, 928 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 2006). “The resignation must be irrevocable and must be submitted “at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.”
State, Com'n on Ethics v. Sullivan, 430 So. 2d 928 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). “John was alleged to have violated Section 99.012(7), Florida Statutes (Supp.”
Diaz v. Lopez, 167 So. 3d 455 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015). “07 of the Sweetwater Charter *459 with Article II, Section 5(a) of the Florida Constitution 8 and section 99.012 of the Florida Statutes. As our analysis is based purely on the legal interpretation of the relevant provisions, the trial court’s conclusions are subject to de novo…”
Humphries v. Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs., 400 So. 2d 1311 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). “012(7), 1 Florida Statutes (1979), which exempts “subordinate personnel, deputy sheriffs], or police officer[s]” from the general resign-to-run requirements of Section 99.012, Florida Statutes (1979). According to both Barber and Dorothy Glisson, the State Supervisor of…”
Baker v. Alderman, 766 F. Supp. 1112 (M.D. Fla. 1991). “e nominated or elected; that he has not violated any of the laws of the State relating to elections or the registration of electors; that he has qualified for no other public office in the state, the term of which office or any part thereof runs concurrent with that of the…”
Ruiz v. Farias, 43 So. 3d 124 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). “These are consolidated appeals from mandatory injunctions declaring Sandra Ruiz, a term-limited member of the Doral City Council, ineligible to run for the Democratic nomination to the Florida House of Representatives on the ground that she failed to satisfy the requirements of…”
Parker v. Baker, 499 So. 2d 843 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). “The suit seeks to establish that defendant, who in 1984 while employed by the predecessor to the current property appraiser qualified to run against his superior for that elective office, was thereby obligated to resign, and in effect resigned pursuant to section 99.012(7),…”
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
City of Tampa v. Lewis, 993 So. 2d 1096 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008). “1112 , a federal case involving allegations of wrongful discharge, were decided before the amendment of section 99.012 to include the provision that "[t]he name of any person who does not comply with this section may be removed from every ballot on which it appears when ordered…”
— 99.012(1)(b) — 2 cases
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
Debbie Mayfield v. Sec'y, Florida Dep't of State (Fla. 2025).
— 99.012(2) — 10 cases
City of Hialeah v. Martinez, 402 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). “" Since the general law of the state, Section 99.012, Florida Statutes (1981), permits Martinez, whose term as a councilman is not concurrent with the term of the Mayor's office he seeks, to run without resigning, the City's Charter provision which places a greater restriction…”
Smith v. Crawford, 645 So. 2d 513 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). “*520 The trial court properly rejected Bob Crawford's argument that the plain language of subsection 99.012(2), Florida Statutes (1993), prohibits any person who has qualified to run for political office from later withdrawing from that race and qualifying to run for any other…”
State ex rel. Cherry v. Stone, 265 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972).
Snead v. State, 415 So. 2d 887 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982).
Evers v. Lacy, 257 So. 2d 70 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972).
— 99.012(3) — 4 cases
Smith v. Crawford, 645 So. 2d 513 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). “*520 The trial court properly rejected Bob Crawford's argument that the plain language of subsection 99.012(2), Florida Statutes (1993), prohibits any person who has qualified to run for political office from later withdrawing from that race and qualifying to run for any other…”
Chalifoux v. Sanchez, 991 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008).
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
Varn v. Vasilinda, 985 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008).
— 99.012(3)(a) — 7 cases
Diaz v. Lopez, 167 So. 3d 455 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015). “07 of the Sweetwater Charter *459 with Article II, Section 5(a) of the Florida Constitution 8 and section 99.012 of the Florida Statutes. As our analysis is based purely on the legal interpretation of the relevant provisions, the trial court’s conclusions are subject to de novo…”
Advisory Opinion to the Governor re Sheriff & Jud. Vacancies Due to Resignations, 928 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 2006). “The resignation must be irrevocable and must be submitted “at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.”
In re Advisory Opinion to the Governor—Dual Off.-Holding, 630 So. 2d 1055 (Fla. 1994).
Ruiz v. Farias, 43 So. 3d 124 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). “These are consolidated appeals from mandatory injunctions declaring Sandra Ruiz, a term-limited member of the Doral City Council, ineligible to run for the Democratic nomination to the Florida House of Representatives on the ground that she failed to satisfy the requirements of…”
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
— 99.012(3)(c) — 2 cases
Ruiz v. Farias, 43 So. 3d 124 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). “These are consolidated appeals from mandatory injunctions declaring Sandra Ruiz, a term-limited member of the Doral City Council, ineligible to run for the Democratic nomination to the Florida House of Representatives on the ground that she failed to satisfy the requirements of…”
Varn v. Vasilinda, 985 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008).
— 99.012(3)(d) — 1 case
Advisory Opinion to the Governor re Sheriff & Jud. Vacancies Due to Resignations, 928 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 2006). “The resignation must be irrevocable and must be submitted “at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.”
— 99.012(3)(e) — 1 case
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
— 99.012(3)(f) — 1 case
Golden v. Satcher (Fla. 2d DCA 2024).
— 99.012(3)(f)(l) — 1 case
Advisory Opinion to the Governor re Sheriff & Jud. Vacancies Due to Resignations, 928 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 2006). “The resignation must be irrevocable and must be submitted “at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.”
— 99.012(4) — 1 case
Lewis v. City of Tampa, 64 So. 3d 143 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “” Plaintiff swore, under the Oath of Candidate, “that he has resigned from any office from which he is required to resign pursuant to Section 99.012, Florida Statutes.” Hence, when Plaintiff signed the Oath of Candidate, he made a sworn affirmation of resignation.”
— 99.012(5) — 5 cases
Lewis v. City of Tampa, 64 So. 3d 143 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “” Plaintiff swore, under the Oath of Candidate, “that he has resigned from any office from which he is required to resign pursuant to Section 99.012, Florida Statutes.” Hence, when Plaintiff signed the Oath of Candidate, he made a sworn affirmation of resignation.”
City of Tampa v. Lewis, 993 So. 2d 1096 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008). “1112 , a federal case involving allegations of wrongful discharge, were decided before the amendment of section 99.012 to include the provision that "[t]he name of any person who does not comply with this section may be removed from every ballot on which it appears when ordered…”
Diaz v. Lopez, 167 So. 3d 455 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015). “07 of the Sweetwater Charter *459 with Article II, Section 5(a) of the Florida Constitution 8 and section 99.012 of the Florida Statutes. As our analysis is based purely on the legal interpretation of the relevant provisions, the trial court’s conclusions are subject to de novo…”
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
Chalifoux v. Sanchez, 991 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008).
— 99.012(6) — 3 cases
Lewis v. City of Tampa, 64 So. 3d 143 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “” Plaintiff swore, under the Oath of Candidate, “that he has resigned from any office from which he is required to resign pursuant to Section 99.012, Florida Statutes.” Hence, when Plaintiff signed the Oath of Candidate, he made a sworn affirmation of resignation.”
City of Tampa v. Lewis, 993 So. 2d 1096 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008). “1112 , a federal case involving allegations of wrongful discharge, were decided before the amendment of section 99.012 to include the provision that "[t]he name of any person who does not comply with this section may be removed from every ballot on which it appears when ordered…”
Gonzalez v. Vogel, 616 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). “However, we believe the dispositive fact was Lambeth's failure to have tendered the resignation to anyone until one day before expiration of the qualifying period, contrary to the express ten-day requirement of section 99.012.”
— 99.012(7) — 7 cases
State, Com'n on Ethics v. Sullivan, 430 So. 2d 928 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). “John was alleged to have violated Section 99.012(7), Florida Statutes (Supp.”
Humphries v. Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Vehs., 400 So. 2d 1311 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). “012(7), 1 Florida Statutes (1979), which exempts “subordinate personnel, deputy sheriffs], or police officer[s]” from the general resign-to-run requirements of Section 99.012, Florida Statutes (1979). According to both Barber and Dorothy Glisson, the State Supervisor of…”
Parker v. Baker, 499 So. 2d 843 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). “The suit seeks to establish that defendant, who in 1984 while employed by the predecessor to the current property appraiser qualified to run against his superior for that elective office, was thereby obligated to resign, and in effect resigned pursuant to section 99.012(7),…”
Baker v. Alderman, 766 F. Supp. 1112 (M.D. Fla. 1991). “e nominated or elected; that he has not violated any of the laws of the State relating to elections or the registration of electors; that he has qualified for no other public office in the state, the term of which office or any part thereof runs concurrent with that of the…”
Lewis v. City of Tampa, 64 So. 3d 143 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “” Plaintiff swore, under the Oath of Candidate, “that he has resigned from any office from which he is required to resign pursuant to Section 99.012, Florida Statutes.” Hence, when Plaintiff signed the Oath of Candidate, he made a sworn affirmation of resignation.”
— 99.012(S)(b) — 1 case
Advisory Opinion to the Governor re Sheriff & Jud. Vacancies Due to Resignations, 928 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 2006). “The resignation must be irrevocable and must be submitted “at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.”
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