Almost every campaign cycle, Floridians read weird stories about write-in candidates. Some throw races into chaos. Others are largely irrelevant.
But, after covering politics in the state for more than a quarter century, I’ve concluded most are schemers, scammers or just profoundly lazy.
Here’s why: Any serious person mounting a serious campaign would want their name on the ballot. And anyone can make that happen by simply collecting signatures from fellow citizens.
Candidates don’t have to pay a big fee to get on the ballot. They just have to get off their duffs and do a little work.
Anna Eskamani, a Democratic state rep from Orlando, qualified that way, by knocking on doors and collecting signatures. So did Grant Maloy, the Republican Clerk of Court in Seminole. Along with quite a few candidates for nonpartisan offices, including Stephanie Vanos and Joy Goff-Marcil, candidates in Orange for school board and county commission respectively.
All four said qualifying by petition was hard but worthy work that made them better candidates. You’ll hear from each of them in a moment.
But first, let’s recap some recent write-in controversies, starting with the tantrums currently being thrown in Lake County.
There, long-time Property Appraiser Carey Baker wanted to keep his $170,000 job, but didn’t want to pay the qualifying fee or trouble himself with collecting signatures. So he thought he’d wait until the last minute, make sure no one else was running and then run as a write-in candidate without paying a fee or collecting signatures.
Baker’s name wouldn’t be on the ballot. But neither would anyone else’s. So, as long as at least one person wrote his name, Baker would get to keep his political post without working too hard for it.
Except at the last minute, someone else decided to run. And, unlike Baker, that person — fellow Republican Mark Jordan — did what it took to get his name on the ballot, meaning he will almost certainly defeat the blank line that is supposed to represent Baker.
So now Baker and his buddies are throwing tantrums, calling names and filing lawsuits about a problem that could’ve been avoided if Baker had simply done what was required to get his name on the ballot … just like everyone else.
Editorial: Lake official Carey Baker thought he had re-election in the bag. Then the bag broke.
We saw another write-in scheme backfire four years ago — one that was supposed to help Orange County Commissioner Betsy VanderLey, a darling of the business and tourism community.
The town’s deep-pocketed interests were nervous that challenger Nicole Wilson, a savvy environmental lawyer, might defeat VanderLey. So one of VanderLey’s buddies got his 20-year-old stepdaughter to enter the race as a write-in.
Why? Well, if there were just two candidates — Wilson and VanderLey — the vote would be held in November when the biggest number of voters show up. VanderLey’s supporters thought she might fare better with fewer voters. So they threw a write-in candidate into the mix, which had the effect of moving the race up to August. Their scheming was nakedly apparent. VanderLey’s own campaign treasurer donated to the write-in’s campaign.
But the scheme didn’t work. After it was exposed, VanderLey lost in a landslide.
Yet it looks like déjà vu this year for Wilson, who still makes the tourism lobby nervous and is facing another mysterious write-in.
While some candidates scheme, others work.
To collect 1,300 signatures and get her name on the ballot, Anna Eskamani said she started knocking on doors months ago. “Every election I’ve run we always make a commitment to qualify by petition because it allows us to meet our constituents face-to-face, and really understand what issues they care about and what keeps them up at night,” she said. “I also think that it shows a level of commitment that’s less transactional compared to just paying the qualifying fee.”
Grant Maloy said collecting signatures made his feet sore and back ache but was worth it. “By talking with people one on one I not only save money,” he said, “I talk with thousands of voters.”
Similar sentiments came from Joy Goff-Marcil, who said she has collected signatures for every office she has ever sought, from the Maitland City Council to state Legislature. “I would much rather spend my time talking to voters than sitting down on the phone calling donors for money,” she said. “It’s also a great way to get your 10,000 steps.”
And Stephanie Vanos, the candidate for school board, said qualifying by petition allowed her “to have as many one-on-one conversations with voters as possible. I heard what they love and what they hate, what they think is working and what they want changed.”
There may be some people who have legitimate reasons for not knocking on doors, if they perhaps work two jobs or have disabilities. But most don’t have such noble excuses. They’re just trying to game the system.
One commissioner in Port of Palm Beach got her own mother to run against her as a write-in candidate … three times.
Why? Well, sometimes candidates recruit opponents to move the election date, as we saw in the VanderLey-Wilson race. Other times, candidates do it to close a primary.
For example, if the only two candidates in a race are Democrats, voters of all partisan stripes would be allowed to cast ballots. But if the more liberal candidate is also a schemer, they might recruit a Republican to run as a write-in. The write-in would stand no chance of winning, but would close the primary, denying Republicans and NPA’s from voting in the race between the only two candidates’ whose names will ever be on the ballot.
Lawmakers have talked for years about closing this so-called “write-in loophole.” But they never do. Too many politicians enjoy the scheming and scamming. So it remains.
The bottom line: You have good reason to be suspicious of write-in candidates or simply not take them seriously if they don’t take their own campaigns seriously enough to get their names on the ballot.
As Vanos said: “I respect candidates who do the hard work, and I think other voters do too.”
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
