State Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, and three other Alachua County residents filed an emergency petition Tuesday to halt a November ballot measure concerning how residents vote for members of the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).
The ballot measure, scheduled for all Alachua County voters to decide in November, asks whether voters want the BOCC to be elected by at-large districts or single-member districts.
In a Tuesday interview, Perry told Mainstreet that Florida has never had a county switch from single-member districts to at-large districts—only the other direction.
He said it’s unfair to dilute the voice of any geographic or ethnic section of a county by electing commissioners through an at-large system where every voter gets to vote for each county commissioner.
He said there’s also the legality of the BOCC’s referendum that the courts will need to decide.
Alachua County residents previously voted on the issue in 2022, and voters selected single-member districts by 51.1%. This November is set to be the first election in which only members of a particular district can vote for that district’s representative.
Perry said the Florida Legislature keeps busy and never had bandwidth to consider a statewide change on at-large districts for counties. He has reached his term limit for serving as a state senator, and his seat is up for election in November.
“I certainly think it’s something that should be looked at,” Perry said of a state-wide ruling on county election methods.
Earlier this year, the BOCC voted to place the question back on the ballot for the general election, citing misinformation and confusion during the 2022 vote.
Local attorney Jeff Childers filed the petition asking the Eighth Judicial Circuit to prevent the BOCC and Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton from going through with the ballot measure—or referendum.
“Allowing this misleading, pre-empted, and non-compliant measure to appear on the November ballot would irreparably harm the voters of Alachua County by potentially leading to an invalid election result that conflicts with state law,” the petition reads. “The integrity of the election process would be compromised.”
The petition asks the court to declare that the referendum violates two sections of the Florida Statutes along with Section 8 of the Florida Constitution. Because of these alleged violations, the plaintiffs want the referendum off the ballot or kept from being counted, if it’s too late to remove from the ballot.
The plaintiffs include Perry and Alachua County voters Kimberly Hord, Jose Lopez and Sharla Head.
Aaron Klein, director of communications and outreach for the Alachua County Supervisor of elections office, told Mainstreet on Tuesday that the ballots for November have been finalized and sent to the vendor for printing on Sept. 6.
He said the office plans to send vote-by-mail ballots to 30,000 Alachua County voters at the end of this week.
Perry said the late timing is unfortunate. He said the plaintiffs had to find an attorney willing to take on the case and with some expertise in the matter.
In the petition, the plaintiffs argue that Alachua County has not followed the Florida Legislature’s “specific framework for matters of statewide importance, such as the method of electing county commissioners.”
This framework includes residency requirements for Alachua County commissioners. The petition says that because the referendum language fails to mention that BOCC commissioners must live within the district they represent if elected through the at-large method, it violates the state’s specific framework.
The petition says the ballot language also violates another part of Florida Statutes Section 124.011.
Further, the petition says that the Florida Legislature used a general law in its 2022 bill to require Alachua County commissioners be elected through the method approved by voters. The BOCC has no authority to overrule this general law, according to the petition.
“The 2022 Act qualifies as general law, specifically regulating the electoral method for county commissioners in Alachua County,” the petition says. “Consequently, the BOCC proposed charter amendment to revert to at-large elections is directly inconsistent with and pre-empted by the 2022 Act.”
In 2022, the BOCC unanimously opposed the switch to single-member districts. During the campaign, both sides accused the other of improper conduct. The BOCC is currently still composed of the same commissioners.
Perry said he hopes voters see the reason for single-member districts and vote accordingly if the courts allow the referendum. He noted that on Monday the Alachua County African American Accountability Alliance (4As) encouraged citizens to vote against at-large districts.
On November’s ballot, two of the BOCC commissioners are up for election—Commissioner Anna Prizzia and Commissioner Mary Alford.
The Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority has also filed an emergency petition to stop the city of Gainesville’s referendum planned for the November election. This referendum deals with management control of the utility.
Good! Thank goodness this is happening!
Give credit to Perry, Clemons and the Florida GOP for consistency. At every turn & on every issue they will oppose you being able to vote on issues directly affecting you. Instead of openly campaigning and attempting to persuade voters, they prefer to go to court to shut down your voice. Rulings instead of representing.
If anyone wants to learn the real facts they can visit: https://onealachuacounty.com/
What Senator Perry failed to mention is that the very close passing of the referendum that put single member districts in place was influenced by disinformation (intentional, deceptive information). “Shortly before the election, an
unidentified sponsor began a high-profile campaign employing disinformation to encourage residents to vote in favor of single member districts. The campaign was strategically designed, well-funded and comprehensive. ” See VOTE411.org for the full story and vote YES to restore at-large districts in Alachua County.
Once again the local Republicans don’t want We The People to decide on this issue. Their 2022 campaign for SMD was filled with lies and dis-information, which they got called out for in the public press conference (Oct. 2022). At that press conference the leadership of the NAACP, and commissioners Ken Cornell, Rodney Long and Chuck Chestnut and other community leaders all denounced the 2022 referendum for SMD. After two years of citizen outcry, we now have a chance for voters to be honestly educated about SMD v ALD. Alas, Perry and his pals don’t want you to have the truth; they fear that with an honest comparison of the two issues, you will see that voting yes for At Large Districts allows you broader representation on the county commission. That’s the last thing they want: your voice and your values being represented countywide.