CopyCited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida
...Section
100.111(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1979), provides a method for selecting nominees for political parties when a "vacancy in nomination" has occurred prior to September 15 in the year of a general election. [2] Petitioner contends that section
100.111(3)(a) must be read in conjunction with section
101.252(1), Florida Statutes (1979), which states that when only one candidate of a political party qualifies, that candidate is the party's nominee. Petitioner further asserts that since the Republican Party's sole qualifier withdrew after close of time for qualification the Governor must call a special primary election because, by virtue of section
101.252(1), a sole qualifier is automatically a party's nominee, and a "vacancy in nomination" has therefore occurred. The Governor argues that no vacancy can occur prior to the first primary election on September 9, 1980. He bases this argument on the assertion that section
101.252, Florida Statutes (1979), does not effectuate the nomination of an unopposed candidate on the day qualification closes....
...721 (1930), which found that no vacancy in nomination occurred when a political party held a primary election in which there was no candidate for the office. For the following reasons, we agree with petitioner's contentions. Respondent's position ignores the unambiguous terms of section 101.252(1), Florida Statutes (1979): Any candidate for nomination who has qualified as prescribed by law is entitled *558 to have his name printed on the official primary election ballot....
...The Elections Canvassing Commission declares the winner of contested positions only, and no mention of unopposed candidates is made in section
102.111(1), Florida Statutes (1979). There seems little justification for giving the nominating provision of section
101.252(1) effect in futuro when no clear future act of declaration is provided in the statute. [3] The practice of the Elections Canvassing Commission of including unopposed candidates in their official declaration does not change the failure of the statutes themselves to provide for, other than in section
101.252(1), an act declaring the nomination of unopposed candidates. [4] Second, if any meaning is to be given to the central import of section
101.252(1), i.e....
...ehearing will be entertained in this cause. ADKINS, BOYD, OVERTON, ALDERMAN and McDONALD, JJ., concur. ENGLAND, J., dissents with an opinion. ENGLAND, Justice, dissenting. I disagree with the conclusion my colleagues draw from their plain reading of section 101.252(1), although I read that section to mean precisely what they read it to mean....
...r party office, but a legislative change in the wording of the election law suggests that the declaration is after the first primary election rather than simultaneous with the close of qualifying. The operative section we are called upon to construe-section 101.252(1)-first said that unopposed candidates "are hereby declared to be nominated," [6] and later said that each such candidate "is declared nominated." [7] In 1963 the declaration was made prospective, [8] the way it reads now....
...rvisor of elections. We note that throughout the election laws candidate for nomination and for election are used interchangeably. See §
102.141, Fla. Stat. (1979). Thus, the secretary of state would certify an unopposed candidate, nominated by the section
101.252(1) process, as a candidate for election (i.e. nominee) rather than nomination. This diversion is singularly unhelpful in determining when the unopposed candidate was indeed nominated. [1] §
97.021(18)(d), Fla. Stat. (1979). [2] See §
101.252(2), a parallel provision for the election of party executives, which is similarly directed solely at the administrative expense and convenience of the election process....
...The statute also requires the secretary to certify to the supervisor all candidates for "election," meaning those persons seeking to be executive committee members of their parties and for whom elections are held simultaneous with the presidential preference primary rather than the general election. See § 101.252(2), Fla....
