A justification of the note was outlined in agenda documents reviewed by County Examiner. The item summary and background history are as follows:
In April 2019, the Florida Supreme Court in the case of Orange County v. Rick Singh held that the Florida Election Code expressly preempts a Charter County’s authority to impose term limits or provide for non-partisan elections for six county constitutional officers. Lee County’s Charter requires a non-partisan election of the Supervisor of Elections. To comply with the Courts’ ruling, Lee County’s Charter ordinance will be notated to comply with the Court’s holding. This notation will provide that Article III, Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of the Lee County Charter has been preempted by the holding in Orange County v. Singh and is therefore of no further force or effect. Therefore, future elections for the Office of Lee County Supervisor of Elections shall no longer be on a non-partisan basis.
In November 1996, Lee County placed a proposed charter before the electorate to decide whether to become a charter county. The electorate approved Lee County becoming a charter county. In a 2008 referendum, the Lee County Charter was amended to require the Supervisor of Election be non-partisan. The Lee County Charter contains a Savings Clause that states, “if any section, subsection, sentence, clause or provision of this Ordinance is held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the Ordinance shall not be affected”. Since the Florida Supreme Court has declared county charters containing provisions requiring constitutional officers to be elected on a non-partisan basis unconstitutional, the County Charter will reflect the ruling. Upon adoption of this requested action, future elections for the Office of Lee County Supervisor of Elections shall be on a party, partisan basis.
Tommy Doyle, current Lee County Supervisor of Elections is up for reelection in 2020.
