State orders Polk supervisor to run countywide officer elections as partisan races

For the first time in two decades, next year’s elections for constitutional officers in Polk County will be partisan races.

Joseph S. Van de Bogart, general counsel for Florida’s Department of State, sent a letter Friday to Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards directing her to administer the relevant elections as partisan.

Van de Bogart’s order applies to the contests for supervisor of elections and property appraiser, along with three others up for election in 2024: Polk County sheriff, clerk of the circuit court and tax collector.

Edwards responded Friday with a one-sentence letter to Van de Bogart, saying she would conduct Polk County’s constitutional officer elections as partisan races.

The exchange settled a question that has been simmering for months. Polk County Commissioner Neil Combee filed in February to run for Polk County property appraiser. Both Combee and the other current candidate, Gow Fields, are registered Republicans, and both initially appeared as nonpartisan candidates in a listing on the Supervisor of Elections’ website.

Edwards, first elected as Polk County’s Eeections supervisor in 2000, pointed to the county charter. In 2002, local voters approved a charter measure declaring elections for constitutional officers to be nonpartisan. The initiative gained roughly 70% approval, Edwards said.

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In all elections since 2004, candidates for the five countywide positions have been listed on ballots without party affiliation. School Board races are also nonpartisan (though some Florida legislators have called for changing that custom), while Polk County Commission elections are partisan.

Combee said he was discussing his election plans with an unnamed friend in Tallahassee, lamenting that Polk County’s elections for countywide officers are nonpartisan. The friend mentioned a 2019 court ruling determining that Orange County must run its constitutional officer elections with candidates listed by party.

Combee said he eventually contacted the Department of State’s office and sought a determination for Polk County. The result was Friday’s letter from the general counsel to Edwards.

Van de Bogart closed with a line that could be interpreted as a threat of action against the local supervisor.

“Unless you change the constitutional officer races to partisan and indicate you will continue to hold partisan races for county constitutional officers, pursuant to (a Florida statute), we will be forced to bring an action to enforce the performance of your duties in accordance with the Florida Election Code,” Van de Bogart wrote.

Melony Bell's filing raised question

The issue also arose when Florida Rep. Melony Bell, R-Fort Meade, filed last month to run for supervisor of elections in next year’s election — challenging Edwards, who is seeking re-election to a seventh term.

In her candidate filings, Bell identified herself as a Republican. But Edwards, citing the Polk County charter, listed Bell on the supervisor’s website as a nonpartisan candidate.

Van de Bogart mentioned Bell in his letter to Edwards. He wrote that Bell had identified herself as a Republican in her statement of candidacy and other materials.

“Your website, however, reflects that the race is nonpartisan and lists both you, as a candidate for the office, and Candidate Bell as running in a nonpartisan race,” Van de Bogart wrote.

The counsel said he recognized that an article in the Polk County charter specifies that elections for constitutional officers are nonpartisan.

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“The Florida Supreme Court, however, held in Orange County v. Singh, in 2019, that a county charter ‘banning a candidate for county constitutional office from running by party or seeking nomination by party … directly conflicts with the Florida Election Code’ and is thus preempted,” Van de Bogart wrote.

The Department of State did not reply to a request for more information about what prompted Van de Bogart’s directive. In his letter, he mentioned statements from Edwards in media reports saying she would conduct nonpartisan elections.

In 2014, Orange County voters passed a referendum to revise the county charter and establish nonpartisan elections for constitutional officers. Following a legal challenge, a judge negated the change from partisan elections, ruling that the matter was pre-empted by the Florida Legislature, according to a summary from Justia US Law.

Both an appellate court and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed that ruling.

County sought guidance

Polk County Commission Chair George Lindsey said the board sought opinions several weeks ago on the election question from both the Department of State and the office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. He said Moody’s office responded, saying that the ruling in the Orange County case seemed to apply for Polk County as well.

The secretary of state initially did not offer an opinion, Lindsey said.

Bell said a campaign consultant advised her to file as a Republican for the supervisor of elections race, but Edwards informed her that the race was nonpartisan, in keeping with the county charter. When her name appeared on the Polk Elections website as a nonpartisan candidate, she said, Combee asked the Department of State for clarification.

Bell said Polk County was the last county in Florida still conducting nonpartisan elections for constitutional officers. The Ledger was unable to confirm that with the Florida Supervisors of Elections.

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As of Wednesday, the Polk County elections website listed Bell as a Republican. Edwards, who served in the Florida Legislature as a Democrat in the late 1990s, said she is running as a nonpartisan candidate.

Combee was identified Wednesday as a Republican, while Fields was still listed as a nonpartisan candidate on the site. Fields told a reporter that he plans to submit the required forms to run as a Republican.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd filed this week to seek a sixth term next year. For the first time, he is running as a Republican, having previously competed in nonpartisan elections.

The Polk County Commission discussed the issue of partisan elections at Tuesday’s regular meeting. Lindsey suggested having the County Commission filed a legal request for a declaratory judgment, so that a judge would offer a definitive ruling on the question, but he found no support.

Combee said that a judge could not alter the county charter, and County Attorney Randy Mink questioned whether the County Commission had legal standing to make the request.

Combee asked about having a referendum placed on the ballot next year to have the charter amended to reflect the Supreme Court ruling. Mink said the commission could so with a vote of at least four members, but voters might not approve it.

Mink said that Orange and Wakulla counties had added “editor’s notes” to their charters, stating that the requirement for nonpartisan elections of constitutional officers had been ruled invalid. By a 4-1 vote, the commission opted to do that. The exact language had not been determined as of Wednesday.

Combee: Clarity needed

Combee, who has already raised about $41,000 for his campaign, said he contacted the Department of State because he wanted final clarity on the question of a partisan election.

“I needed to get the question answered,” Combee said after Tuesday’s meeting. “I didn't want to be a candidate, a nonpartisan candidate, and then in 2025 somebody comes along and says, ‘Hey, this was illegal. We're starting over.’”

Combee said he also believes that candidates should be identified by party even in local elections.

“Well, because it gives voters a chance to at least see who the candidate identifies with,” he said. “It doesn't tell you everything, and it's not entirely definitive as to who or what somebody will do, but at least it is a clue for voters, an indication of which party the candidate aligns with, that voters can make a little better-informed decision about who they want to serve.”

In Polk County, 38.1% of voters are registered as Republicans, 31.1% as Democrats and 30.8% with no party or another party.

Lindsey, a Republican barred by term limits from seeking re-election next year, has a different view. Lindsey said he served on the Charter Review Commission in 2000 that decided to place the nonpartisan elections measure on the ballot.

“I was of the opinion that the constitutional officers — not opinion, it’s fact — they are administrative officers,” he said. “They are not policymaking officers. They don't raise taxes. They don't raise fees. They don't assess fines. They don't set millage rates. They don't set ordinances.”

Lindsey raised another concern about partisan elections for the county officers. Florida is a closed-primary state, meaning only candidates registered with a party vote in its primary elections. But if all candidates in a race are from a single party, meaning the primary winner will face no opposition in a general election, the primary becomes open to all voters.

All it takes to prevent that, though, is a write-in candidate in the race. Unlike formal candidates, write-in candidates need not pay any filing fees to enter an election. Their names do not appear on the ballot but must be written in, and such candidates typically receive low vote totals.

It is not uncommon for write-in candidates to enter races merely to prevent universal primaries from occurring.

In such cases, Lindsey said, “you're disenfranchising two-thirds of the population.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: State to Polk supervisor: County officer elections must be partisan