by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Attention wannabe politicians: Opting out of costly campaign qualifying fees will become even easier once local requirements match those recently passed at the state level.
Legislation that would lower the number of signatures needed to qualify to run was introduced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The current 3 percent of registered voter endorsements required will drop to 1 percent on Jan. 1.
Filed at the request of Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland, it is expected to endure a standard committee cycle of about a month.
“What we’re basically doing is taking the steps locally that will ensure that we don’t have anything on our books that would conflict with the state’s guidelines that were recently adopted,” Holland said. “Ultimately we would go by what the state says anyway, but we don’t want there to be any confusion.”
Besides the lower signature requirement, candidates will be able to work towards collecting them even earlier than in previous elections.
Currently candidates cannot actively collect signatures before Oct. 15 in the year preceding the election. The new laws will permit that collection to begin as soon as a campaign account is opened and a treasurer hired.
Holland said those relaxed stipulations could result in a higher would-be candidate turnout.
“That’s a definite possibility,” he said. “But what I think is more important to understand is that it can also make it easier for candidates to enter the race who can’t afford to pay the qualify fee.”
Those fees are 5 percent of the elected position’s salary.
“It can create a much more realistic opportunity for a lot of people who want to get into a race, people who would otherwise be qualified,” Holland said. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
Qualifying cards are due on the 28th day preceding the first day of the qualifying period.
And as for when those qualifying periods will be, that may also be up for debate. A Jacksonville Bill in Tallahassee supported by Council member Warren Alvarez and State Rep. Stan Jordan could align gubernatorial with mayoral, council member and other local election dates in an attempt to cut costs and increase voter turnout.
Holland said his office would follow whatever schedule is in place, though he was uncertain of the level of support behind making such a change.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of support out there, but I guess we’ll have to see,” he said. “Like I said, we’ll do whatever we’ve been told to do.”
That bill is expected to be debated by the City Council and the Duval County Legislative Delegation later this year.