A prospective candidate for Clay County judge was denied by the 1st District Court of Appeal on Wednesday in her challenge of a final judgment in circuit court that decertified her as a qualified candidate.
Lucy Ann Hoover appealed a June 21 ruling by 7th Circuit Judge Howard Maltz on a complaint brought by incumbent Clay County Judge Kristina Mobley.
A certified candidate to retain her seat on the bench, Mobley challenged the Clay County Supervisor of Elections’ decision to accept Hoover as a candidate even though Hoover filed her qualifying paperwork after the statutory deadline.
Mobley was granted a declaratory judgment that Hoover was not a qualified candidate and also an injunction directing Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless to remove Hoover from the Clay County ballot.
Since Mobley is an incumbent in the 4th Circuit, the case was moved to the 7th Circuit, where oral arguments were heard June 19 and the ruling issued June 21.
Evidence presented at the circuit court hearing indicated that Hoover met with the qualifying officer at the supervisor’s office May 3 to obtain the candidate packet comprising all of the forms that needed to be completed and submitted to qualify as a candidate.
On May 4, the final day of the qualifying period, Hoover decided to become a candidate and arrived at the supervisors office little more than an hour before the noon qualifying deadline. She submitted the form for appointment of a campaign treasurer and designation of a campaign depository and then left to open her campaign account.
Hoover returned to the supervisors office at 11:55 a.m. and submitted her qualifying check, which was time-stamped as accepted at 11:57 a.m. She also submitted the Candidate Oath Form before the deadline, but had not finished filling out the Financial Disclosure Form, which was time-stamped at 12:13 p.m.
Although Hoover’s complete qualifying package was not presented to the supervisor until after the close of the qualifying period, the elections office accepted the late submission based on an unwritten policy that as long as a candidate is present at the office before the close of the qualifying period, the paperwork will be accepted and the candidate will be qualified, even if the candidate is still completing the paperwork after the deadline.
In affirming the circuit court ruling, the appellate court pointed out that Hoover does not dispute that she submitted one of the required forms after the deadline, nor that she waited until the last minute to decide to qualify as a candidate.
The court stated in its decision that while the public policy of Florida generally favors letting the people decide the ultimate qualifications of candidates, “absent special circumstances, public policy considerations cannot override the clear and unambiguous statutory requirements” that all of a candidate’s qualifying paperwork must be received by the end of the qualifying period.
Mobley was represented at the appeal by Paul Renner and Michael Fackler of Milam Howard Nicandri Gillam and Renner.
Hoover represented herself in the appeal; Chambless was not represented.