During election time, you may hear people complain about their choices on the ballot. Well, if you are one of those individuals, here are some of the things you will need to do to qualify for the next election. Running for a position in government is time consuming and expensive, so you’ll need to start planning now for the next election cycle.
There are requirements on where you live. County Commission candidates must reside in the district they qualified for at the time of being elected to office. The School Board candidates need to live in the district they’d like to run for at the time they qualify to run. The strictest local government residence requirements is the Brooksville City Council race. Candidates must be “a registered voter who has continuously resided in the CIty of Brooksville for at least one year immediately prior to qualifying.”
You are also required to identify a bank for your campaign account and a treasurer.
Step one is qualifying to run and getting on the ballot.
Petitions are a major part of qualifying to get on the ballot. A certain number of registered voters sign a petition stating that they would like to see your name on the ballot. The law states that the number of valid signatures required is 1% of the total number of Hernando County registered voters as of the last general election. For those running in 2016, candidates in Hernando County had to get 1,248 valid signatures.
To process the signatures the Supervisor of Elections Office charges a fee of $.10 per signature, but candidates can submit a hardship request for exemption.
There is a way to get on the ballot without a petition. That is by paying a qualifying fee.
The fee for candidates in partisan races is 6% of the position’s salary that is sought. For candidates in nonpartisan races the fee is 4% of the office’s salary that is sought. The nonpartisan fee is less since there is no party fee. In partisan races 2% of the 6% fee goes to the party the candidate is affiliated with. Both partisan and nonpartisan qualifying fees include the 3% filing fee and 1% Election Assessment. The Election Assessment goes to the Florida Elections Commission. County offices have separate qualifying fees.
It is understandable that many choose to get the petitions since you’d be paying a percentage of a salary that is not guaranteed unless you actually win the election.
In the local races, for the Nov. 8th election, the following candidates chose to collect signatures: Jimmy Lodato (County Commission District 1), John Alloco (County Commission District 3), Diane Rowden (County Commission District 3), Steve Champion (County Commission District 5), John Emerson (Property Appraiser), Jeff Huffman (Property Appraiser), Shirley Anderson (Supervisor of Elections), Debra Myers (Supervisor of Elections) and William James Vonada (School Board District 4).
Candidate for County Commission District 1, Nick Nicholson, chose to pay a qualifying fee as well as Paul Douglas running for County Commission District 5. Both footed a $3,930.90 payment.
Gus Guadagnino for school board district 4 also went with the qualifying fee of $1,384.96.
City Council candidates Frankie Burnett and Joe Bernardini each paid a $216 filing fee.
Party affiliation is very important to plan for as soon as possible. Candidates running under a certain party cannot have been “registered in any other political party for 365 days before the beginning of qualifying preceding the general election for which the person seeks to qualify.”
If you are going to run for political office, be prepared to disclose financial information including assets, businesses, liabilities and income. You generally have to provide ranges for assets, liability and income.
These are just some of the things you need to do just to get your name on the ballot. Once you get there, a whole new set of tasks await you, like the filing of campaign finance reports. You will be given several documents listing the rules and there are usually experienced people around who are willing to answer your questions.
Signs and other advertising must bear the paid for by you disclaimer. The wording is important and you can be fined if you get it wrong. You have to pay close attention to the rules to avoid issues. The money you raise and spend will be listed on your campaign finance reports.
So if you are disappointed in your choices, you can be proactive and get on the ballot for the next election cycle. Contact the Hernando County Supervisor of Elections or go to www.hernandovotes.com.