The structure of Alachua County’s Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) remains in the hands of the Florida First District Court of Appeals following the November 2024 elections, with opposing parties waiting for a ruling.  

But in April, another party joined the legal proceedings. Leading For Our Future PAC filed an amicus brief that allows them to make arguments in the case.  

Chaired by Stafford Jones, the PAC spent between $200,000 and $250,000 during the 2022 election, where voters selected a single-member district structure with 51.5% of the vote. In 2024, Jones said the Leading For Our Future spent around $95,000. The referendum showed a switch in support, with 71% of voters in favor of at-large districts.  

Before the November 2024 election, former state Sen. Keith Perry and others filed a lawsuit to stop Alachua County’s referendum. They claimed the language failed to meet state statute guidelines, and a judge granted an injunction that stopped the referendum from taking effect. Alachua County appealed the decision leading to the current case. 

Jones, an Alachua County resident, said a poll conducted by the PAC ahead of the November 2024 election showed confusion among voters. A “Yes” vote in 2022 was a vote in favor of single-member districts; a “Yes” vote in 2024 was a vote in favor of at-large districts.  

Jones said the county purposefully created ballot language that didn’t follow Florida Statutes to result in confusion. Based on the PAC’s poll, he said the margin of victory for at-large districts in 2024 is a result of the confusion and also because single-member district voters did not fill out the line item after the judge’s injunction. 

“They don’t care about what’s right or wrong,” Jones said of Alachua County leadership. “They purposely used illegitimate language; their goal was to confuse the voters.”   

Jones declined to release the poll data because it would reveal strategy and wording. 

But he said a key part of the poll was reading the ballot language and asking which way they would vote. Jones said respondents answered “yes” after the reading but then changed how they’d vote when explained what the language meant—supporting at-large districts.

The 2022 referendum resulted in mudslinging and accusations of misinformation, with many following into the 2024 election. 

Alachua County Spokesperson Mark Sexton said the case for at-large districts was much more understood in 2024. He said there was a balance between the public education campaigns that the 2022 election cycle lacked.  

Sexton said the amicus brief filed by Leading For Our Future changes nothing in the case. Alachua County responded to some of the PAC’s points with its final brief in April and now awaits a decision. 

Sexton said the will of the people couldn’t have been clearer after the 2024 election. 

In the amicus brief, Leading For Our Future follows the reasoning of Perry and company. The PAC argues that the language fails to follow Section 124.011 of Florida Statutes and that at-large districts adversely affect minority and rural voters. 

Jones said at-large districts are the wrong structure for Alachua County with its dense, Democratic Party core in Gainesville. The brief points to a 2014 county election where Kevin Thorpe, a Black candidate, won the county district he would represent but lost the Democratic primary because of voters from the other four districts voting for his opponent, Ken Cornell. The brief refers to an opinion piece that dissects the case. 

“Without single-member representation, the voices of the minority are drowned out by the voices of the majority,” the brief reads. “In Alachua County, single-member representation is the best way to ensure that under-represented groups, such as rural or black voters, have the opportunity to elect their preferred candidate.” 

Jones heads a political consulting firm, Electioneering Consulting, and his company helped lead a 2022 public education campaign in Sarasota County that supported at-large districts. He said detractors have pointed to the Sarasota campaign to show that Jones doesn’t hold consistent with his arguments.  

In Sarasota, Republicans have the majority in the county commission and advocated against single-member districts.  

Jones said he disagreed with the position but felt it was right to give the people in Sarasota a platform to have their debate.  

Jones said political speech isn’t free. It takes money and know-how. As a political consultant, Jones said he can navigate the complexities of running a PAC that leaves the average citizen lost.  

“I said, ‘I disagree with your position, but y’all want to go state your case to the public. We can engage a political committee, and you can state your case to the public.’ So, I gave them the platform because it seemed like the right thing to do,” he said. 

Jones said Sarasota County isn’t his county, so he did the campaign. On some issues, he said he won’t take on a client because of the stance.  

For the Alachua County case, Jones said he can’t imagine the First District Court of Appeals siding with at-large districts. He predicts the county will enter the 2026 election with single-member districts.  

While the outcome of the referendum remains open, the results of the county commission seats was settled. With single-member districts, incumbents Mary Alford and Anna Prizzia won. Both supported at-large districts and were originally voted into office through the at-large system.

The Florida Legislature passed a local bill in 2025 that would place the at-large versus single-member district question on the ballot in Lee County. Gov. Ron DeSantis has not yet dealt with the bill, but the legislation could set up the same situation as Alachua County.  

State representatives placed the 2022 referendum on the ballot through a local bill in the Florida Legislature.