Florida filing for state office closed on June 20. In the 13th State House district, only one candidate, the incumbent, Reggie Fullwood, attempted to file. Because his Financial Disclosure statement is not properly notarized, the filing is defective. See this story.
Florida requires declared write-in candidates to file on the same day that candidates qualify for the primary and general election ballot, so it is too late for anyone to file as a write-in. Therefore, Florida will be required to hold a special election to fill the seat for the 2015-2016 legislative session. The district is in Jacksonville. Fullwood is a Democrat. Thanks to Austin Cassidy for the link.
That’s amazing.
I wish a Libertarian had filed.
The article says that the Secretary of State would have to set a “special qualifying period”, not a qualifying period for a special election.
I did not find any specific procedure for handling the case when there are no candidates; but I suspect that the Secretary of State has authority to make rules where the law did not anticipate a particular situation.
The article says:
“As to what happens next a concurrent special election would be called and the qualifying period would be reopened.”