Candidate Petition Filing Dates

When you are creating a candidate petition, a date must be entered in Candidate Filing Date on the Petition Maintenance dialog, unless the race is for a federal or special district office.

During the signature-verification process, Voter Focus compares the date the petition was signed with the candidate filing date and, if applicable, the date the candidate's treasurer was appointed (the Date Treasurer Appt Filed field). Any petition signature dated prior to either of those dates will be rejected.

These offices include U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and soil- and water-conservation districts.

Petitions for these candidates can be collected at any time; there are no date restrictions. For these candidates, leave the Candidate Filing Date field blank.

These are offices defined by the DOE as state-qualifying:  statewide, multi-county, district, judicial, and other offices.

Candidates for these offices must file Form DS-DE 9 (Appointment of Campaign Treasurer and Designation of Campaign Depository). For these candidates, you must enter the filing date in Date Treasurer Appt Filed on the Petition Maintenance dialog.

Partisan candidates who change their party affiliation to another party or to NPA (no party affiliation) cannot use petition signatures dated prior to their party change. When a candidate changes party, they must file a new Form DS-DE 9 reflecting their new party affiliation. Only petitions signed on or after the date when the new DS-DE 9 is filed can be accepted.

To handle a party-switching candidate in Voter Focus, you will need to close the candidate petition for signatures verified under the old party. Then create a new petition for signatures collected under the candidate's new party affiliation.

Candidates for county offices—like those for state-qualifying offices—must have appointed their campaign treasurer before they can collect signatures.

The petitions are valid only for the qualifying period immediately following such filings (F.S. 99.095).