Deerfield voters will get to decide for themselves whether to move their elections from March to November, whether to cancel the March 2027 and March 2029 elections and whether to extend the terms of their sitting commissioners by 20 months, a Broward judge ruled Monday.
They’ll do it all by answering a single question on the November ballot, which in turn could shape the outcome of the city’s relationship with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
After a Monday morning hearing, Broward Circuit Judge Carlos Rodriguez shot down an effort to force the city to clarify the language of what will now be Question D on the November ballot for Deerfield Beach voters.
Wayne Adams and Dan Herz, who would be candidates for the commission if an election were to be held in March, asked Rodriguez to make it clear that voting yes on the referendum would effectively override the city’s term-limits law.
The existing term limits would otherwise keep incumbents Michael Hudak and Ben Preston from continuing to serve.
Attorney Louis Baptiste speaks in court during a hearing on an emergency motion filed by his clients, Wayne Adams and Dan Herz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Louis Baptiste, the lawyer representing Adams and Herz, also criticized the referendum for lumping three questions into one, blocking voters from favoring the changes they want without adopting changes they don’t.
But there’s no time to change a referendum without stopping it completely, Rodriguez said. Altering its language would force the city to conduct two public meetings to approve the change. And that would have to happen before the end of Tuesday, the deadline for the Supervisor of Elections to approve November’s ballot language.
Dan Herz speaks with supporters after his emergency motion about a Deerfield Beach ballot question was denied at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The city has met its legal obligations, Rodriguez said, and the language is clear enough. “We should let the voters decide,” he said.
The decision signals the beginning of a political fight over the referendum itself.
Voting yes on Question D means supporting the move from March elections to November, canceling the elections of March 2027 and March 2029, and extending the terms of all five current members of the Deerfield Beach City Commission, regardless of whether they are prohibited from running again because of term limits.
Coincidentally or not, it also means the commission will retain a 3-2 majority in favor of an independent police force until after it is established and running without BSO’s leadership.
Voting no means keeping March elections (at least for the time being), opening the door for Herz and Adams to run. They would still have to win, but if they did, the balance of power on the commission would potentially shift from 3-2 against keeping the Sheriff’s Office to 3-2 in favor.
The new Deerfield Beach Police and Fire-Rescue Departments are slated to begin independent operations in September 2027, six months after the now-hypothetical March 2027 election.
Even before the hearing was over Monday, Herz was passing out flyers urging voters to turn down the referendum.
“Put the NO in NOvember,” the flyers read.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.