OCALA, Fla. — All seven candidates for Ocala mayor and city council did not qualify for the September general election.
The candidates include three incumbents like Mayor Ben Marciano, Councilman Barry Mansfield, and Councilman James Hilty.
The city says candidates paid the required qualification fee. However, their payments did not meet state requirements.
Now, the city is forced to re-start qualification for a special election.
So, what happened? It all started with 20-year-old mayoral candidate Zackary Feliciano and another candidate turning in their qualification fee Friday.
“I turned in a cashier’s check,” Felciano said.
City Clerk Angel Jacobs informed Felciano and the other candidate she did not believe the city could take that form of payment per election law.
But while sorting through what state law says about payments, the city found it could not accept any of the payments from all seven candidates.
“They found other deficiencies as well,” Wesley Wilcox, Marion County Election Supervisor.
“For all of them?,” Channel 9 asked.
“All of them,” Wilcox said.
In a statement, the city pointed to Florida law which “requires candidates to pay the qualifying fee using a properly, executed check drawn from their campaign account.” The check must also include “the campaign account name, account number and bank name, exact amount, treasurer’s signature, purpose of the payment.”
Candidates found out their payments did not qualify after the qualification deadline Friday at noon.
Councilman James Hilty Sr. tells Channel 9 his payment was disqualified because he did not put a note in the memo of the check. He says he did everything else correctly, including paying with a check drawn from his campaign account.
“it’s pretty upsetting, I take it personally, mine was minor,” Hilty said, adding the confusion amongst the candidates was an “honest mistake.”
Wilcox says it’s up to the qualifying officer to verify if the payments candidates are making meet state requirements. For Ocala City elections, the qualifying officer is the city clerk, Angel Jacobs.
Jacobs declined to interview.
“Why wasn’t this noticed before?,” Channel 9 asked.
“It should have been,” Wilcox replied.
Wilcox says issues with payments are typically noticed before the deadline; however, it was not noticed in Ocala until after the qualification deadline.
Council voted Tuesday to set the qualification deadline for the new special election for this Friday at noon.
The special election will be held on September 16, the same day as the originally scheduled general election.
Wilcox says he is working with all city clerks in Marion County to clarify instructions to so all interested candidates can understand requirements and qualify for the election of their choosing.
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