A Message from Alan Hays
Lake County's Supervisor of Elections
The judge has rendered his verdict in the Baker v. Jordan case. I purposefully delayed this posting until the court process had been completed. Our policy is to not comment on legal matters until they are closed. I am told that an appeal of the decision has been filed but nothing I say, or post now will be considered by the appeals court if they decide to rule on the matter, so I want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to hear the whole story. Therefore, I offer the following:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, in this case the only opinion that really matters is that of the judge. The judge forms his opinion based on the facts of the case as presented by the lawyers for those involved, and the laws of Florida.
Friday, June 14th was the deadline for candidate qualifying for Lake County. Our office had been notified there would likely be many people filing for positions on the deadline date. To accommodate the expected high volume of paperwork, the SOE team arrived at a method that would provide the best level of service possible on that Friday morning. We consulted with the Florida Division of Elections to ensure that we were abiding by the law and the rules of the handbook published by the Division. The Division assured me that plan I related to them was well within the law and that the handbook was correct.
Our designated process was designed to make certain that everyone who was “in line” to qualify for an office by the noon deadline, would be given a fair opportunity to qualify even if the volume of paperwork prevented us from completing the paperwork before the noon deadline. The Division clearly stated they follow the same process in Tallahassee if candidates are in line to qualify when the deadline arrives.
To address the expected volume, we doubled the number of staff normally assigned to handling the qualifying paperwork. We also added a Notary if documents needed to be notarized. An additional time/date machine was purchased for processing the paperwork. We provided each person arriving after 11:30 AM on Friday with a time-stamped document to prove they were in the building before the noon deadline. At noon, a notice was placed on the front door of the office, stating qualifying is now closed.
Staff persons continued to process the candidate paperwork after 12:00 PM for those individuals who were present before noon.
Mr. Baker had arrived at the SOE office before 11:30 AM and handed in some of his paperwork but intentionally withheld one of the documents to be handed over at the last possible moment. He later handed in that last document, and it was stamped at 12:01 PM. Mr. Baker then departed our premises.
Mr. Jordan arrived after 11:30 AM and properly completed the form indicating he was present before the noon deadline. He then waited, as instructed by staff, for his turn to have his paperwork processed. Staff called him to complete the process of qualifying at 12:16 PM. While some individuals may disagree with these facts, they are indeed the facts.
The judge concluded that no statutes were broken. He concluded that the SOE process was the correct procedure to follow so that everyone desiring to qualify for an office who was present before the noon deadline with completed paperwork, would be able to qualify.
Where do we go from here? Mark Jordan’s name will be printed on the 2024 General Election ballot. Right under his name you will find a blank line with a blank oval beside it. On that line, since only one person is a qualified write-in candidate, ONLY ONE name will be counted and that is the name of Carey Baker.
Those who wish to vote for Mark Jordan should darken the oval beside his name. Those wishing to vote for Carey Baker, should darken the oval beside the blank line AND write the name Carey Baker on the line. The canvassing board will examine individually, each ballot to determine if the name written on the line is for Carey Baker. The final results for that race are likely to be delayed until the following day for publication.
I thank you for reading this far but now you know the whole story. I would urge everyone who is interested in the further details of the law to read the opinion handed down by the judge. That opinion is replete with references to the applicable statutes and regulations of the Division of Elections.
You can find the opinion by visiting this link: CA 1239 Final Order
Respectfully yours,
Alan Hays
Supervisor of Elections
Lake County, FL