On July 29, Florida State Representative Reggie Fullwood (D-Jacksonville) filed a lawsuit in state court to regain his spot on the Democratic primary ballot. He was kept off the ballot because his Notary Public forgot to check a box on his campaign finance disclosure form. See this story.

Because he is the only candidate who filed, in any party, if he is kept off the ballot, the voters won’t be able to fill the seat in November, and they will go unrepresented until February 2015, when a special election would be held. Florida allows write-in candidates in general elections, but the deadline to file as a declared write-in candidate is so early, it is already too late for Fullwood or anyone else to file as a write-in. The proposed special election will cost the taxpayers over $200,000. Fullwood argues that the error is “de minimis”, not important enough to affect ballot placement.