This year, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in Florida, and a Republican candidate for the same office in the same state, both failed to qualify for the September 2008 primary ballot, because of paperwork errors. Both sued. However, on June 16, a Florida state court ruled against them, and the candidates aren’t appealing.

Larry Byrnes, a Democrat in the 14th district, filed his first paperwork in July 2007. He then circulated petitions in lieu of the filing fee, and obtained enough valid signatures. But because he inadvertently signed a Declaration of Candidacy to be a write-in candidate in the general election, instead of an application to be on the primary ballot, he was disqualified.

The lawsuit turned on the definition of “furnish”. The law says the Secretary of State shall furnish the proper forms. But the judge said that since all the forms were on the Secretary of State’s webpage, that satisfied the obligation to “furnish” the forms. Byrnes v Department of State, Leon Co. Circuit Court, 2008-CA-1615. The results were almost identical in the lawsuit filed by the Republican candidate, Bob Hering, running in the 8th district.