FRED VARN, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHELLE REHWINKEL VASILINDA, CANDIDATE, HOUSE DISTRICT 9; FREDDY MOORE TODD; KURT S. BROWNING, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF STATE, STATE OF FLORIDA; ION SANCHO, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS, LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA; MARTY BISHOP, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS, JEFFERSON COUNTY, FLORIDA; AND SHIRLEY KNIGHT, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS, GADSDEN COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLEES
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The court affirmed that a candidate for Florida House of Representatives violated the "resign to run" law by failing to timely resign from his school board position, requiring his removal from the primary ballot.
A candidate for Florida House of Representatives who fails to timely submit a written resignation from his school board office in compliance with section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes, must be removed from the ballot.
[1] A candidate for state office must timely submit a written resignation from any current public office in compliance with section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes, or face remov…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFred Varn, a candidate for Florida House District 9, did not timely submit his written resignation from the Leon County School Board as required by Fl…
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BARFIELD, J.
Appellees Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda and Freddy Moore Todd filed separate actions, later consolidated, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief based on claims that Appellant Fred Varn, a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, District 9, had violated section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes (2008), a provision of Florida’s “resign to run” law, and seeking to have Varn’s name removed from the August 2008 primary ballot. There were no disputed issues of material fact, and after a hearing on the merits of the request for declaratory judgment, the circuit court entered a Final Declaratory Judgment which found that Varn “failed to comply with F.S. § 99.012(3)(c) and (g) by not timely submitting his written resignation of his office with the Leon County School [Bjoard in accordance with the requirements of those statutory provisions” and that “[t]he only legal remedy available to the Court is his removal from the August 26, 2008 primary ballot.”
We have carefully considered the circuit court’s order, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, and we conclude that the circuit court’s reasoning and rulings are correct. The Final Declaratory Judgment is therefore AFFIRMED.
WEBSTER and PADOVANO, JJ., concur.
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Chalifoux v. Neri Sanchez, 991 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)…Chalifoux would be disregarded (ballots had already been printed). Chalifoux failed to meet the requirements of section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes (2007), Florida’s Resign-to-Run Law. The merits of his appeal are controlled by Varn v. Vasilinda, 985 So. 2d 1241, (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), and his venue contest is without merit. We affirm. Chalifoux challenged the standing of Neri Sanchez, appellee, to bring this action contending that Sanchez, an elector as defined in section 97.021(13), was not registered as…
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Rebekah Jones v. Margaret Ann "Peggy" Schiller (Fla. 1st DCA 2022)…ndidate who failed to timely file her financial disclosure form based on the “clear and unambiguous statutory requirement” that all of a candidate’s qualifying paperwork must be received before the close of the qualifying period); Varn v. Vasilinda, 985 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (affirming removal of qualified candidate from ballot for failure to comply with Florida’s Resign-to-Run Law). Finally, we are mindful of the concern that our ruling today could invite bad actors to qualify for the ballot using…