Florida State Rep. Paula Stark’s move to be placed on the ballot to retain her District 47 seat was rejected by a Leon County court Wednesday.
The St. Cloud Republican’s application to qualify for the ballot was rejected for the lack of a financial disclosure form, which her campaign treasurer, Joel Davis, says was submitted to Division of Election officials before the noon June 12 deadline.
But Judge Joshua Hawks of the Second Judicial Circuit didn’t credit Davis’ testimony, believing instead the five officials working in the hour before the deadline that if they had received the paperwork, they would’ve stamped it.
“They all testified consistently that after 11:30 (a.m.), the clerks no longer performed any check of the papers,” Hawkes wrote. “Instead, they just received, stamped, and later, if time allowed, handed copies of the stamped forms back as courtesy copies. The streamlined, no-review, process was to ensure those that wanted to qualify could before the noon deadline.
And no such stamped copy of Stark’s financial disclosure form, known as Form 6, was presented to the court.
“Given the Court’s adverse credibility determination regarding (Stark’s) only witness, (Stark) has not established a clear legal right for the Respondents to perform a ministerial duty,” Hawkes wrote. “The Court does not credit the story of DOE staff immediately returning the Form 6, the Form 6 was not turned in before the noon deadline, and (Stark) did not show that she qualified for HD47.”
Hawkes gave Stark seven days to file evidence showing why her petition shouldn’t be dismissed, but otherwise his order leaves her off the ballot.
If the order stands, it would mean Democrats flip the district, which covers a sliver of Orange County south of State Road 417 and the Florida Turnpike, and a swathe of Osceola County that includes St. Cloud.
Two Democrats, Jorge Figueroa and Anthony Nieves, will square off in the Democratic primary to see who will replace Stark. No other candidates qualified for the race, so registered voters of all parties will be able to vote in the primary.
The seat is considered a toss-up seat with typically thin margins in general elections.
Stark, 69, was first elected to the House in 2022, when she narrowly defeated Nieves by 878 votes out of more than 46,000 cast, or about 1.8 percent.
In 2024, Stark defeated Democrat Maria Revelles by 1,246 votes out of more than 77,000 cast, or about 1.6 percent.
