Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...n or trust fund assessment, and a one percent party assessment. Id.4 Alternatively, Green could file a petition with signatures of three percent of the registered Democratic voters in Florida's Tenth Congressional District. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.095 (West Supp.1998).5 This petitioning alternative required 4,077 signatures. After swearing an intent to 3 Although amended in 1997, § 99.092 in 1996 provided: Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify pursuant to § 99.095 and except a person seeking to qualify as a write-in candidate, shall pay a qualifying fee, which shall consist of a filing fee and election assessment, to the officer with whom the person qualifies,...

...The trust fund assessment went toward a quasi-judicial board to pursue complaints filed with the Division of Elections. See Boudreau, 642 So.2d at 1-2; see also Fla. Stat. § 106.24. The party assessment went to the candidate's political party. Boudreau, 642 So.2d at 2. 5 Section 99.095 provides: A person seeking to qualify for nomination to any office may qualify to have his or her name placed on the ballot for the first primary election by means of the 2 qualify by petition, a candidate is given "forms in sufficient numbers to facilitate the gathering of [the requisite] signatures." Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.095(2) (1982). Green did not meet either requirement by the respective deadline....

...stered within the district, county, or other geographical entity represented by the office sought, as shown by the compilation by the Department of State for the last preceding general election. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.095(1), (3) (West Supp.1998). 6 The deadlines were changed to alleviate any prejudice that might have resulted from another district court decision invalidating the configuration of Florida's Third Congressional District. See Johnson v....

...Fortson, supra , although appellant points out that there were not present in Jenness the proofs of costs and burden of obtaining so great a percentage which he has shown sub judice. We have also examined the requirement of 5% for candidates seeking to qualify under F.S. § 99.095 by means of petition for nomination in a primary election....

...party assessment, which section 99.061(1), Florida Statutes (1993), requires candidates to pay to the state upon qualifying. Pursuant to section 99.092, Florida Statutes, one seeking nomination to office, other than as a write-in candidate or under section 99.095 (providing an alternative method of qualifying by petitioning process), must pay fees which total 7 1/2% of the annual salary of the office, broken down as follows: (1) a qualifying fee, which consists of (a) a filing fee, equal to 4.5 percent of the annual salary of the office....

...he sought. Fla.Stat. ch. 99.092(1) (1995). [3] Second, Green could have appeared on the Democratic primary ballot if he obtained the *1453 signatures of 3% of the total number of the registered Democratic voters in the Tenth District. Fla.Stat. ch. 99.095(3) (1995)....

...One way is by paying a statutorily set qualifying fee. Currently, section 99.092, Florida Statutes provides, in pertinent part, that: Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify pursuant to s. 99.095 and except a person seeking to qualify as a write-in candidate, shall pay a qualifying fee, which shall consist of a filing fee and election assessment, to the officer with whom the person qualifies, and any party assessment levied.......

...[5] The second way to obtain access to a primary ballot is by gathering the signatures of three percent of the voters who are registered in the area of representation as members of the party whose nomination the would-be candidate seeks. In this regard, section 99.095 currently provides, in pertinent part, as follows: (1) A person seeking to qualify for nomination to any office may qualify to have his or her name placed on the ballot for the first primary election by means of the petitioning process prescribed in this section....

...equal to at least 3 percent of the total number of registered voters of the party by which the candidate seeks nomination that are registered within the district ... as shown by the Department of State for the last preceding general election. By its express terms, section 99.095 provides an alternative qualifying method to section 99.092, in that it allows a potential candidate to qualify for a primary ballot without paying any portion of the fee....

...ssue as they applied to him 1996 and as they currently exist (Counts I, III, V, and VII). Consistent with the organization of his amended complaint, in his motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff addresses the constitutionality of sections 99.092 and 99.095 separately, thus implicitly encouraging the court to do the same....

...the party of his choice by seeking its nomination for Congress. The minor burdens imposed on Green are necessary and well justified by the strong interests advanced by the state in enacting sections 99.092 and .095. Accordingly, sections 99.092 and 99.095, Florida Statutes, both as they read and were applied to Green in 1996 and as currently written and applicable to the 1998 Congressional primaries, are not violative of the First Amendment....

...campaigns. In his affidavit, Arnold testifies that Voter Outreach's "normal charge" for soliciting signatures for political campaigns is between $.85 and $2.00 per signature. Based on this testimony, Plaintiff argues that comfortably complying with section 99.095's signature alternative may cost over $9,000, which is more than Florida's current 6% qualifying fee and much more than most other states' fees....

...gistered voters and certain transportation expenses, accessing a primary ballot by petition does not require paying a for-profit company thousands of dollars to collect signatures as Plaintiff suggests. Also unpersuasive is Plaintiff's argument that section 99.095 is an unreasonable alternative to paying the qualifying fee because the number of signatures required is greater than that required by other states....

...en party affiliations or types of county commissioner candidates—that is, write-ins under section 99.0615; those who pay a qualifying fee under section 99.092, Florida Statutes (2014); or someone seeking to qualify by the petition process under section 99.095, Florida Statutes (2014)....

...Joanos filed one of the six documents identified in the statute, his form for the appointment of campaign treasurer and designation of campaign depository, in January 1998. Another required item is a check for the qualifying fee or a copy of the notice that the candidate has obtained a ballot position pursuant to section 99.095, which prescribes a petitioning process whereby a candidate may qualify for ballot placement without paying the qualifying fee or party assessment....

qualification through the petition process under section 99.095, Florida Statutes (2005). The Constitution

...ge. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). 3 Although amended in 1997, § 99.092 in 1996 provided: Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify pursuant to § 99.095 and except a person seeking to qualify as a write-in candidate, shall pay a qualifying fee, which shall consist of a filing fee and election assessment, to the officer with whom the person qualifies,...

...r trust fund assessment, and a one percent party assessment. Id.4 Alternatively, Green could file a petition with signatures of three percent of the registered Democratic voters in Florida’s Tenth Congressional District. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.095 (West Supp....

...The trust fund assessment went toward a quasi-judicial board to pursue complaints filed with the Division of Elections. See Boudreau, 642 So.2d at 1-2; see also Fla. Stat. § 106.24. The party assessment went to the candidate’s political party. Boudreau, 642 So.2d at 2. 5 Section 99.095 provides: A person seeking to qualify for nomination to any office may qualify to have his or her name placed on the ballot for the first primary election by means of the petitioning process prescribed in this section....

...the 3 signatures. After swearing an intent to qualify by petition, a candidate is given “forms in sufficient numbers to facilitate the gathering of [the requisite] signatures.” Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.095 (2) (1982). Green did not meet either requirement by the respective deadline....

...candidate seeks nomination that are registered within the district, county, or other geographical entity represented by the office sought, as shown by the compilation by the Department of State for the last preceding general election. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.095 (1), (3) (West Supp....

...On June 27, 2000, the Broward County Commission adopted an ordinance determining the boundary lines for all nine districts. Meanwhile, Mack, a Broward County resident, sought to qualify for nomination using the “Alternative Method for Qualifying” under Florida Statute section 99.095 (1999)(“Statutory Alternative Method”)....

...Under this method, no filing fee is paid by a candidate; instead, the candidate must obtain a certain number of signatures on a petition, i.e., one percent of the number of registered voters within the district as shown by the compilation of the Department of State for the last preceding general election. See § 99.095(3), Fla....

...al to at least 1 percent of the total number of registered voters of the district, county, or other geographical entity represented by the office sought, as shown by the compilation by the Department of State for the last preceding general election. § 99.095(3), Fla....

...Without passing judgment on the validity of the Supervisor’s Alternative Method, 4 Mack’s 852 signatures from throughout Broward County still fell short of the required mark under that method. Again, we conclude Mack has simply not shown that she has met the statutory requirements under section 99.095(3), which would entitle her to require the Supervisor to place her name on the ballot for District 8 Commissioner in Broward County without the payment of a filing fee. We are troubled by the fact that candidates, hoping to qualify for election without paying the requisite filing fee and having no way of knowing the district boundaries in advance, were handicapped in complying with the literal requirements of section 99.095(3)....

...nion to follow. We granted the Supervisor’s motion to expedite because in order to meet the deadline lor mailing absentee ballots, the ballots needed to be placed in final form by July 28, 2000. See § 101.62, Fla. Stat. (1999). . See §§ 99.061, 99.095, Fla....

...ted by a candidate qualifying by the alternative method are not registration records subject to restrictions on inspection and copying under the Florida Election Code. There appears to be no requirement for sealing petition cards after verification. Section 99.095 , Florida Statutes, provides an alternative method of qualifying for candidates by means of a petitioning process....

...ons by a candidate qualifying under the alternative method are not registration records that would be subject to the restrictions on inspection and copying under the Florida Elections Code. Sincerely, Robert A. Butterworth Attorney General RAB/tls 1 Section 99.095 (2), Fla. Stat. 2 Section 99.095 (3), Fla. Stat. 3 Section 99.095 (4)(a) and (b), Fla. Stat. 4 Section 99.095 (4)(b), Fla....

...8 See also , Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 01-16 (2001) (s. 98.095, Fla. Stat., by its terms applies only to voter registration information contained in county registration books). 9 See, Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 02-54 (2002). 10 See , s. 98.461 , Fla. Stat. 11 See, s. 99.095 (3), Fla....

twenty-five percent of the signatures required by section 99.095, Fla. Stat., must be obtained. See, s.100.111(3)(c)1