Today I met with representatives from the Supervisors of Elections in Orange, Osceola, and Polk Counties, along with a representative from the Florida Division of Elections in Tallahassee. All four offices confirmed that a new directive has been issued instructing county Supervisors of Elections to invalidate petition signatures submitted by registered voters who are classified as “inactive.”
These are not unregistered individuals, or disqualified voters in any way. They are legally registered voters in the State of Florida. They are labeled “inactive” because they have not voted in recent cycles or did not respond to certain mail notices. But they remain on the voter rolls, eligible to vote, as citizens with full political rights.
Yet under this directive, their petition signatures will not count. Even more concerning, counties are now being instructed to retroactively review petitions that were already verified and counted and remove signatures if the voter is now marked inactive. That means signatures previously accepted under the law are now being disqualified after the fact.
One of my campaign’s core objectives is reaching people who feel disenfranchised and have disengaged from politics and helping them understand that their inaction allows the very problems they see to persist. The goal is to motivate voters who would not otherwise participate to reengage in the political process. Under this new directive, the first interaction many of those voters will have when they try to take a step back into civic participation is to be told their signature does not count. That is about as backwards as it can get.
Petition signatures are not ballots. They are simply a statutory method for candidates to qualify for ballot access. There is no statutory language that conditions a registered voter’s ability to sign a candidate petition on “active” status. And this is not a small technical issue. Ballot access is one of the most tightly controlled mechanisms in our election system. Grassroots candidates rely on petitions because they do not have the financial backing to simply write a check and bypass the process. When administrative rules are changed or reinterpreted midstream, especially retroactively, it directly affects who can and cannot access the ballot.
I was told not to worry, and that I would likely only lose a handful of petitions; but that is irrelevant. If one registered voter is improperly disqualified from participating in the petition process, it is wrong. If one previously verified signature is removed retroactively, it is wrong. This is not about numbers. It is about authority and precedent. If administrative agencies can narrow ballot access through internal directives, without legislative change, then the integrity of the qualification process is compromised.
I have already coordinated with candidates across the State of Florida who are collecting petitions, and we intend to challenge this directive. I am formally inviting any candidate currently collecting petitions to join us in this challenge. Every candidate in Florida relying on the petition process, Republican, Democrat, NPA, minor party, local, state, or federal, should be prepared to stand alongside us. This is not a partisan issue, it is a ballot access issue, which means it is a freedom issue.
If you are collecting petitions and remain silent while registered voters are retroactively disqualified from participating in that process, you are accepting a precedent that can and will be used again. Ballot access belongs to the voters, not to administrative interpretation. I do not care who you are, what party you belong to, or whether this affects you today or in the future. If you are serious about ballot access and voter participation, you should be ready to fight this.
This will be challenged. Ballot access is governed by law. Voter participation is a right. Administrative agencies do not get to decide which registered voters are allowed to participate in the political process. We decide that for ourselves.
