On September 25, the Florida Republican Party passed some new barriers to entry onto the party’s presidential primary ballot. Either the candidates attend a fundraising event for the party in Orlando November 13-14; or they must pay the party $25,000; or they must submit 125 signatures of registered Republicans from each of the 27 U.S. House districts.

Florida election law says the sole control over who can get on the Republican presidential primary is exercised by the state party. In the past, the Republican Party always routinely put all Republican candidates on the primary ballot if they were discussed in the news media and considered bona fide candidates by the national party.

For instance, in 2012, these candidates were automatically put on the ballot: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Gary Johnson. Here is the portion of the Florida election law on presidential primary ballot access.

Apparently, if a candidate chooses the signature option, the party would have the burden of checking the validity of the signatures. There is no authorization in the Florida election law to have government employees check such petitions. One wonders if the Florida Republican Party has thought this through. See this story.