Ocala city officials have set a new qualifying date for the city’s election this fall after all candidates initially failed to qualify due to issues with their qualifying fee payments.
At their regularly scheduled City Council meeting on July 15, officials unanimously voted to have the qualifying period run from 8 a.m. July 16, to noon July 18. Between now and the deadline, candidates can file their paperwork.
Not everyone in attendance, however, agreed with the decision.
Mark Clark, who is running for the Ocala City Council District 3 seat currently held by Jay Musleh, told council members during public comment that most of the council members — Jim Hilty, Barry Mansfield and Musleh — should recuse themselves from the process because they all have something to gain.
Both Mansfield, the District 1 representative, and Hilty, who represents District 5, were running unopposed following the initial July 11 qualifying deadline. Musleh, however, who initially planned to vacate his seat, has since decided to run for re-election in District 3 following the qualifying issues.
Musleh told a Star-Banner reporter on July 14 that he viewed the qualifying issues as a sign that he should enter the race.
City Attorney William Sexton told the council members they were OK to vote on the issue since they will not lose or gain anything with their participation.
Though TamBoura Jenkins, another District 3 candidate, was in the audience, he elected not to speak.
Also present was Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox.
Outside council chambers, Clark told a Star-Banner reporter he has filed his documents and opened his campaign account.
“I’m ready to go. I’m still going to run. I’ve committed donors and I love this community,” he said.
When asked by a Star-Banner reporter if he agreed with Clark’s opinion that some of the council members should have recused themselves from the vote, Jenkins said “no.”
“We’re all in the same boat. Let’s get it done,” he said.
How did we get here?
The seven candidates who submitted their names and documents for the upcoming city of Ocala election in September by the initial July 11 deadline, all failed to comply with the “requirements of Florida law as it pertains to the payment of their qualifying fee.”
Specifically, city officials said candidates had “to pay the qualifying fee using a properly, executed check drawn from their campaign account.” The check also must include the “campaign account name, account number and bank name, exact amount, treasurer’s signature, purpose of the expenditure, and the payee’s name.”
“None of the seven candidates met all of these criteria,” officials said.
The candidates included mayoral hopefuls incumbent Ben Marciano and challengers Zackary Feliciano and Neil J. Gillespie, Clark and Jenkins for the District 3 seat, and incumbents Mansfield in District 1 and Hilty in District 5.
The election will still be held on Sept. 16, with early voting set for Sept. 11-13. According to the Supervisor of Elections Office website, as of July 1, there were 33,260 registered voters in the city of Ocala.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: City of Ocala election back on after all candidates fail to initially qualify
Reporting by Austin L. Miller, Ocala Star-Banner / Ocala Star-Banner
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