Five candidates in the Riviera Beach race for mayoral and city council seats used debit cards, instead of checks, to pay their qualifying fees, which led to their removal from the upcoming March municipal elections by a panel of judges last month.
Now, Riviera Beach Councilman Douglas Lawson, the prominent District 5 incumbent and outspoken community activist, is pushing to change an election statute after a three-judge appellate court panel upheld a lower court's ruling that disqualified him and four other candidates from the March 11 ballot.
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鈥淚 was actually shocked that it was upheld,鈥� Lawson told SA国际传谋.
The routine electoral process turned controversial just months before Lawson's run for reelection.
Lawson told SA国际传谋 he chose not to appeal to the Supreme Court but plans to lobby state officials in Tallahassee to allow debit cards for future election qualifying fees.
鈥溾�奍t doesn't explicitly permit, and it doesn't explicitly restrict,鈥� said Lawson in referring to a state election law that requires a check for paying qualifying election fees but doesn鈥檛 explicitly say it doesn鈥檛 accept a debit card.
Currently, candidates must use cash or check.
鈥淪o I think it needs to be clear and concise. That鈥檚 why I called it frivolous because you鈥檙e taking the power from the people and putting it into one judge and then a panel of three, as opposed to the 38,000 residents of Riviera Beach.鈥�
The appeals court rulings blocked mayoral candidates Kendra Wester, Kendrick Wyly, along with city council candidates Madelene Irving-Mills, Joseph Bedford, Sr. and Douglas Lawson, from the municipal races.
It was a win for those who filed the lawsuit 鈥� District 1 Councilman Tradrick McCoy, District 5 candidate Farcella Davis-Painter, and Mayor Ronnie Felder, who was disqualified to run again due to a bounced check and was not mentioned in the lawsuit.
The dispute lies in the interpretation of Florida鈥檚 election law, after a former Belle Glade city clerk advised Lawson and others that debit card payments complied with state law. Based on their legal team's interpretation of the election law, the stay 鈥� Lawson had hoped 鈥� signaled a favorable outcome. It did not.
Lawson said he鈥檚 advocating change in how candidates pay for qualifying fees because commercial banks have been slowly phasing out checks over the last two decades. Check-writing has declined nearly 75% since 2000, the Federal Reserve reports.
鈥淗ow many people actually have a bank check in their repertoire right now? So, essentially, I'm going to be advocating with clear language,鈥� Lawson said. 鈥淎llowing for debit card to be used is going to be one of the next steps so that nobody else is put into this position that we were here in Riviera Beach.鈥�
Lawson said the city鈥檚 main priority during Tallahassee鈥檚 legislative session in March is to seek funding to help address Riviera Beach鈥檚 ongoing water system failures 鈥� 鈥渁n aging [water] plant that should have been replaced 25 years ago,鈥� he said.
