The Florida Secretary of State’s office has removed John Wayne Smith from the November ballot. He is the Libertarian Party’s candidate for Governor. The Secretary of State’s office says he didn’t submit all the necessary forms. However, Smith says he submitted all forms in person on June 17, and he has witnesses and photos of himself submitting the paperwork. The Secretary of State now says he did submit a form that shows that his Lieutenant Governor running mate, J. J. McCurry, is a registered Libertarian, but says he did not submit another form designating McCurry as Smith’s running mate. Smith says he has copies of that form, which had been notarized. Unfortunately he did not get a receipt for each document from the Secretary of State’s office.
Smith was notified about the missing paperwork only one hour before the deadline to have replaced it, and he was unable to do so. He and McCurry would have been the first gubernatorial ticket on the Florida ballot with the Libertarian party name.
Here again is a another example of 3rd partisans NOT checking the paperwork. I know the paperwork part is not as exciting as qualifying, but it is important.
This is why one must take the time to make sure every “t” is crossed, and every “i” is dotted.
Make copies of all documents filed, demand receipts for each individual document filed, and if the election official refuses to receipt each, then make a separate notarized statement immediately after the fact sustaining such.
These Democratic and Republican election officials are scared some 3rd party is going to replace them and they are determined to fight them with all means at their disposal.
I am the Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Florida. I drove up to Tallahassee with John Wayne Smith the morning of June 17th. I am a witness to the fact that John Wayne Smith had his paperwork in order and that he also had J. J. McCurry’s paperwork with him totally in order.
J. J. is his runningmate. I am also a witness
to the fact that when John turned in all the proper paperwork to the State Supervisor of Elections, they looked it over and found
nothing wrong. The deadline for filing was
June 18th.
Vicki Kirkland
What now ???
Videotapes with a thousand witnesses / notary publics when filing paperwork with the election law bureaucrats ???
Receipts / Oaths from the bureaucrats written in blood ???
Ms. Kirkland. I assume you and Mr. Smith have copies of everything you turned in? Why not go back to Tallahassee (despite the expense of doing so) and show them WHAT you turned in, and then get them to explain what happened to the ONE document they claim you did not turn it! Show them your copy, and ask “have you looked thoroughly for it?”
The problem I have learned in my some 40 years of 3rd party activity, is you cannot trust those people in these election offices. You have to force them to give you receipts or document when they do not. Often you have to read and re-read the statutes at the very last minute to be sure you’ve done all you need to do, because many of these lesser “clerks” in those offices don’t know the laws themselves.
I’m not suggesting the one missing document is “deliberately” missing, but nothing surprises me with these people. They’ll try anything. But I would fight this to the last minute. Get the press involved, maybe someone with the press will take your side and demand the SOS office to show more “evidence” you did not turn in the form.
Will they be doing a write-in campaign?
Fight them in court to get on the ballot!
I do not think we should take any time to say what the underdog, third party, candidate did or did not do to find themselves in this predicament. Because, it seems pretty clear that the third party candidate was treated unfairly, and the cause of Ballot Access was not served fairly.
The folks who made mistakes (or who acted on purpose to thwart Ballot Access) in this story are clearly the Florida Secretary of State’s Office, of whom Dawn K. Roberts is the Interim Secretary of State. They are the ones with all the power. They are the ones whose job is to serve the public by helping set up a ballot. It is the Secretary of State’s Office who should encourage Ballot Access, facilitate candidates who file, and who should not play games to destroy Ballot Access, especially of people such as third party candidates who are underrepresented, and at a disadvantage for not having anyone placed in patronage jobs inside the government.
Here is what I posted at my blog:
This action of the Florida Secretary of State is bogus under any condition. Either the Libertarian Governor candidate did file the papers, and he should be on the ballot immediately and of right, or he did not file the papers, and he should have been advised of that at the time of filing.
It is not difficult to figure out why actions like those of the Florida Secretary of State’s Office happen. I have been through this with my local Board of Elections. When a Democrat or Republican candidate go to the Board of Elections, the clerks act like advocates, helping them file, and advising them on the goings on. When third party candidates show up, the patronage employees, hangers on of the elite status quo duoploy in power do everything in their power to thwart, slow down and make uncomfortable. It is the way systems work.
Third party folks should not let this incident go. There should be an investigation into why no on at the Secretary of State’s Office saw the alleged error and notified the candidate earlier. And/or why the paperwork was lost or destroyed. Also, law law suits from candidates have a very specific path they must follow in the courts. Though, electoral activists need to think of different ways to get these cases out of the assigned courts, lined with allies of the Dems and Reps. In the least, they should get a citizen in the district to file based on them losing the chance to vote for a candidate. Or, have the candidate persist in filing at a Federal Level saying that their civil rights were violated or something. There should be a way – through media, through the courts, or through a prosecutor’s office – to utilize this interesting dilemma to push the issue of equal treatment at the BOE to a detailed finale. – KW
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TO: Vicki Kirkland
Can’t you tell that you are in the “wrong” party. We have this
kind of games in California every year. This year the Contra
Costa County Election Official tell the person selected to replace a dead person on the general election ballot within the American Independent Party the deadline to pay his file fee. He then comes in to pay the fee and is informed that made an error and gave him the wrong date by mistake, viz., he should have come in three days before.
In Orange County the Republican who won the primary and will be
on the General election ballot was not register, because he put
his birthdate as his date of registration. When it was called
to the attention of the Orange County Election Official he said
they made an error, but since the primary election is over, they will keep him on the general election ballot anyway.
Can’t you understand that if one is not in the two major parties they keep a double standard anyway.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg.
Vice Chairman, American Independent Party (of California)
Pingback: Florida Secretary Of State Denies Ballot Access To Libertarian Governor Candidate « Long Island, NY
Florida permits write-ins but candidates must file a declaration of write-in candidacy in July of the election year, an absurd deadline and the worst write-in filing deadline in the nation.
If U.S.A. offices are involved, then there may be some U.S.A. FELONIES (relating to civil/political rights) and U.S.A. civil rights laws involved.
Contact the local U.S.A. District Attorney’s office.
Sounds like another case of the two main parties pushing third parties aside. I think Mr. Alabama is probably a Republican that thinks anything but Republican is wrong.
Fight him in court.
Libertarian CO
I doubt John Wayne Smith filed all the required paperwork in a timely manner.
He has pulled this stunt before.
Blaming everyone else for his campaign disorganization.
It is officially documented online by the Florida Division of Elections that John Wayne Smith failed to file many documents and financial reports properly at the FL DOE website for his Florida Governor Campaign in 2009 and 2010 .
http://doe.dos.state.fl.us/PublicRecordsBER/wfPublicImagesBER.aspx
———————————————–
Type in John Wayne Smith in Account Name box.
———————————————–
If you open his filed documents – there is only one document stating his Lieutenant Governor running mate as Staci Hennegar – dated 05/28/09 (Statement of Candidate form). But Staci Hennegar “quit” sometime around August 10, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/Staci-Henegar-Quits-Aug-2009
There is no filed document regarding a change of Lieutenant Governor to John “JJ” McCurry.
What is not being said is that any changes need to be filed within 10 days according to Florida Election Statutes (ss. 106.19(1)(c), 106.265.
The claims by Libertarian Party of Florida Vice-Chair Vicki Kirkland that John Wayne Smith submitted all forms in person on June 17, 2010 is the real problem because the documents were submitted several months too late.
This is not the first time John Wayne Smith has “forgotten” to file campaign paperwork.
He has done this in the past when he previously ran for Florida Governor as an NPA (No Party Affiliation) in 2006.
John Wayne Smith was fined up to $1000. for “forgetting” to file a campaign financial report.
http://www.fec.state.fl.us/Final%20Orders/2006/107.pdf
John Wayne Smith FEC 06-041
Motion to grant Staff’s Motion for Default and find:
1 count of violating 106.07(1)
& fine of $1000.
http://www.fec.state.fl.us/results/August06.pdf
I think many of the comments here are misleading that somehow the Government or the Florida DOE are preventing John Wayne Smith from running.
This is not true.
Nor are the Democrats or Republicans actually preventing John Wayne Smith from running for Governor either.
The real problem is John Wayne Smith himself.
It sounds like he is trying to create some false anti-libertarian issue instead of admitting he screwed up his own paperwork filing.