Recently, John A. Ferentinos filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida Secretary of State, over his exclusion from the ballot. He wishes to run as a Tea Party candidate for State Senate, 26th district. He paid his filing fee and submitted candidacy forms, but he was kept off the ballot because he forgot to fill in the name of his bank on the form “Appointment of Campaign Treasurer and Designation of Campaign Depository for Candidates.”
The only other person running for that seat is the incumbent, Senator Michael Haridopolos. Ferentinos notes that Senator Haridopolos also failed to complete a question on his form. Senator Haridopolos apparently failed to check a box that asks if the bank account is a primary account or a secondary account.
Ferentinos also notes that his failure to put the name of his bank on that form did not cause election officials any harm, because they had his filing fee check and obviously the bank’s name was on the check. The lawsuit is Ferentinos v Roberts, in the middle district, in Orlando, 6:10-cv-1251. His odds are not good because the state will probably argue that he should have filed the lawsuit back in June or July. He was notified that he was off the ballot in late June. Thanks to Darryl Mentro for this news.