TALLAHASSEE — The Legislature passed a bill on Thursday that will allow opponents to kick candidates off the ballot who haven’t been a member of their party for a full year — an issue that came up in a 2024 South Florida Democratic primary race.
Florida law already requires candidates to be a member of the party they seek to represent for 365 days before the beginning of the qualifying period for the primary election, and to affirm that status in a sworn statement. But there’s been no way to remove a candidate from a ballot if they are found to have lied in that statement, a Florida judge ruled in 2022.
That will change as soon as the bill, HB 91, becomes law — just in time for upcoming primary elections. During the primary election, when a candidate is found by a judge to have violated the party oath, they will be removed from the ballot.
The bill will become law unless the governor vetoes it. It was sponsored by the minority party, Democrats, in both chambers. The Senate passed the House bill unanimously on Thursday.
Sen. Don Gaetz, Republican chairman of the influential Ethics and Elections Committee, offered his support before he and his colleagues voted, saying the legal loophole had come to his panel’s “attention.”
“I just wish to thank Sen. (Kristen) Arrington for taking on this issue,” Gaetz said.
Controversy arose in a crowded 2024 Democratic primary in a north Miami-Dade district when the Times/Herald reported that one of the candidates — Wancito Francius — had switched his voter registration from Republican to Democrat too late to qualify for the election.
Francius remained on the ballot anyway, as his opponents had no way to remove him. He lost to former Miami-Dade school principal Wallace Aristide, who is now the district’s representative.
The bill also includes a provision that prohibits anyone from running if they changed their legal name in the 365 days before the qualifying deadline. The law would not apply to people who have changed their names after marriage, divorce or adoption of children.
The House bill sponsor, Tallahassee Democrat Allison Tant — whose past opponent withdrew after being exposed for violating their party oath — said the name component was also needed to “ensure transparency for voters, so they know who they’re really voting for.” She noted examples of candidates using different nicknames in runs for office and one who “switched parties like she switched her undergarments.”
But a Republican candidate for agriculture commissioner said Thursday he thought he was the target. Matt The Welder said he legally changed his name from Matt Taylor in January after he wasn’t allowed to use his stage name during a2024 run for the Hillsborough County commission.
The welder and Internet personality said his followers — nearly 500,000 on Instagram alone — know him as Matt The Welder, not his previous name.
“When I get tagged in stuff, I don’t get tagged as Matt Taylor,” he told the Times/Herald Thursday.
To change his name, Welder said he had to undergo a background check, fingerprinting and go before a judge. Hillsborough County records show the court process took two and a half months.
“It’s not something you do two weeks before an election,” he said.
Welder said he followed the legal process currently in place, and if the legislation survives Gov. Ron DeSantis’ veto pen, he’ll challenge it in court.