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Strip Write-In Candidates Of Power To Close Any One-Party Race

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 30, 2008

Once again in Florida, a write-in candidate for public office is taking advantage of a damaging loophole in state law that threatens to leave more than 100,000 voters with no voice in an election.

This latest abuse is occurring in Pasco County, where week before last a registered Republican filed as a write-in seeking the District 1 county commission seat.

John Taylor - whose residency is also being questioned - has a selfish motive: He doesn't want anyone outside the party voting in an Aug. 26 GOP primary that would have been open to all because the only two true candidates for the office are Republicans - Commissioner Ted Schrader and Tampa firefighter John Nicolette.

Taylor's candidacy, should it stand, amounts to a scam. No candidate should be allowed to manipulate an election system and violate the spirit of the Florida Constitution.

Up until Taylor initiated his game, all voters in Pasco, where county commissioners have districts but are elected countywide, would have been eligible to participate under a 1998 change to the state constitution. That amendment allows all voters to cast ballots in a primary if the race determines the winner of the office.

Unless challenged and voided, Taylor's candidacy means that nearly 170,000 registered Democrats, independents and other voters in Pasco will not be able cast ballots in the race for a countywide office that has a profound impact on their lives and property rights. It's disenfranchisement, period.

Some Hillsborough voters will be shafted, too. Write-in candidates have closed primaries in the race between County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan and Keystone resident Tom Aderhold, both Republicans, and in state House District 59.

This abuse of the process happens much too often in Florida. The same move was made recently by a write-in candidate for a Brevard County Commission seat. This spring, a write-in for a Pinellas state House post blocked nearly 25,000 voters from going to the polls in a special election.

And four years ago, a similar manipulation happened in the race for Pasco school superintendent when a Republican write-in filed, closing the primary between two strong Republican candidates, including one supported by many Democrats. No other candidate had filed.

Write-in candidates often don't deserve to be taken seriously anyway. They don't have to pay the thousands of dollars in filing fees or, in the alternative, collect a certain number of signatures of registered voters like other candidates. All they have to do is fill out some papers.

And no one should forget this embarrassment: State elections' officials recently approved the write-in candidacy of a state prisoner. Jose N. Vazquez wants to serve the people in state House District 58 in Hillsborough County.

Write-in candidates should not have the power to single-handedly alter an election and the process. But there's an easy cure: Change the law to not require a general election when a major party's primary would otherwise determine the winner of an office and a write-in has qualified. And let all registered voters participate.

If the Legislature won't do it, then Florida voters should take matters into their own hands with a constitutional amendment.

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