Florida Statute 99.09651 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title IX
ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS

Chapter 99
CANDIDATES

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99.09651 Signature requirements for ballot position in year of apportionment.—

(1) In a year of apportionment, any candidate for representative to Congress, state Senate, or state House of Representatives seeking ballot position by the petition process prescribed in s. 99.095 shall obtain at least the number of signatures equal to one-third of 1 percent of the ideal population for the district of the office being sought.

(2) For the purposes of this section, “ideal population” means the total population of the state based upon the most recent decennial census divided by the number of districts for representative to Congress, state Senate, or state House of Representatives. For the purposes of this section, ideal population shall be calculated as of July 1 of the year prior to apportionment. The ideal population for a state Senate district and a state representative district shall be calculated by dividing the total population of the state by 40 for a state Senate district and by dividing by 120 for a state representative district.

(3) Signatures may be obtained from any registered voter in Florida regardless of party affiliation or district boundaries.

(4) Petitions shall state the name of the office the candidate is seeking, but shall not include a district number.

(5) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all requirements and procedures relating to the petition process shall conform to the requirements and procedures in nonapportionment years.

History.—s. 3, ch. 91-107; s. 4, ch. 99-318; s. 17, ch. 2005-277.

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Amendments to 99.09651

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 99.09651

Total Results: 3 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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US Taxpayers Party of Florida v. Smith, 871 F. Supp. 426 (N.D. Fla. 1993).

Cited 6 times | Published | District Court, N.D. Florida

...of those signatures with the county supervisors of elections. On or about July 9, 1992, the Party decided to run plaintiff Feather in the new seventh congressional district and began collecting petition signatures for him pursuant to Fla.Stat.Ann. §§ 99.09651 and 99.061 which require a minor party candidate for congress, such as plaintiff Feather, to file 5,625 petition signatures by July 6....

...698, 116 L.Ed.2d 711 (1992). As to the congressional deadline, the court notes that in a reapportionment year such as this one, Florida does not require that the petition signatures come from the specific district in which the candidate seeks to run. Rather, Fla.Stat. § 99.09651(3) provides that in a reapportionment year, the required 5,625 petition "[s]ignatures may be obtained from any registered voter in Florida regardless of party affiliation or district boundaries." (Emphasis added)....

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Johnson v. Mortham, 926 F. Supp. 1540 (N.D. Fla. 1996).

Cited 1 times | Published | District Court, N.D. Florida | 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7199, 1996 WL 226904

...Persons seeking to qualify by alternative method, or as an independent candidate, or as a minor party candidate may submit petitions until noon of the 7th day preceding the first day of qualifying for the 1996 election to office as a representative to Congress, and signature requirements shall be as provided in section 99.09651, Florida Statutes....

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Carroll v. Mack, 766 So. 2d 1216 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000).

Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2000 Fla. App. LEXIS 11899, 2000 WL 1344844

...xpire prior to the establishment of the districts. The Supervisor sought guidance from the Florida Department of State, Division of Elections. The Division of Elections recommended the Supervisor rely upon the procedures set forth in Florida Statute section 99.09651, which governs the signature....

...nty-wide signatures depends upon acceptance of the overall methodology of calculating the average number of registered voters within each district of the county by dividing the number of districts into the total population of the county, premised on section 99.09651....

...were handicapped in complying with the literal requirements of section 99.095(3). Nevertheless, we believe that this is a matter for the legislature to address when reviewing the *1219 statutory scheme, as they did under the reapportionment statute, section 99.09651....

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