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North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme has been disqualified from November\u2019s election by a judge\u2019s ruling that says he could not use cashier\u2019s checks to pay his candidate qualifying fees.<\/p>\n
SAM NAVARRO<\/p>\n
Special for the Miami Herald<\/p>\n
A lawsuit over cashier\u2019s checks has led to the disqualification of incumbent North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme from next month\u2019s election, effectively handing victory to his sole opponent.<\/p>\n
That opponent is George Morgan, who filed an emergency complaint in Miami-Dade County court on Oct. 8 alleging Desulme was ineligible to run because he paid his candidate qualifying fees with two cashier\u2019s checks from TD Bank rather than from his \u201ccandidate campaign account.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor disputed the premise of the lawsuit, saying the check was drawn from his campaign account. He also denied being served with the suit and said his opponent didn\u2019t have \u201cclean hands,\u201d accusing Morgan of underpaying his own qualifying fees by 80 cents.<\/p>\n
Desulme\u2019s attorney, Ben Kuehne, told the Miami Herald his client was disappointed in the ruling and would be appealing it, in addition to filing a counterclaim against Morgan for the 80-cent shortage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mayor, given his experience not only as mayor but as clerk, knows that the city of North Miami has always viewed its qualification procedure differently than the state statute, including the payment of the qualifying fee, and has not turned down qualified fees by cashier\u2019s checks in the past,\u201d Kuehne said.<\/p>\n
Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez ultimately sided with Morgan.<\/p>\n
In a ruling issued Monday evening, she wrote that a cashier\u2019s check doesn\u2019t count as a check drawn on the candidate\u2019s campaign account, invalidating the two checks Desulme submitted on Aug. 10 for $4,494 and $898.80.<\/p>\n
The judge wrote that she weighed whether the check mishap was minor enough that it could be overlooked, and ultimately decided the answer was no.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Court does not wish to disenfranchise any voter,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe Court therefore considered whether the doctrine of substantial compliance \u2014 in other words, \u2018no harm, no foul\u2019 \u2014 could excuse the defect. It cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme has been disqualified from November\u2019s election by a judge\u2019s ruling that says he could not use cashier\u2019s checks to pay his candidate qualifying fees. Miami-Dade County court filing <\/p>\n
The city of North Miami declined to comment on the ruling. The city\u2019s legal counsel previously opted not to take a stance on the qualification matter but did say it would generally be \u201copposed to removing any party from the ballot,\u201d saying that the city\u2019s priority is \u201csafeguarding the rights of its citizens to vote and run for office.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office is expected to post the news of Desulme\u2019s disqualification at polling locations, on outgoing vote-by-mail ballots and on its website.<\/p>\n
Early voting began Monday in Miami-Dade County, and mail-in ballots were sent out starting last month. The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Thursday, Oct. 22.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published October 19, 2026 at 7:15 PM.<\/p>\n