ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The candidate qualifying periods will soon begin for those seeking election or reelection during the 2024 election cycle.
Anna Maria provides a two-week qualifying period. Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Manatee County provide one-week qualifying periods. All city commission and mayoral terms on the Island are two-year terms.
Pre-qualifying
State law also provides pre-qualifying periods for candidates. According to Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office Chief Deputy Sharon Stief, “The pre-qualifying process is set forth in Florida Statute 99.061(8): A qualifying office may accept and hold qualifying papers submitted not earlier than 14 days prior to the beginning of the qualifying period, to be processed and filed during the qualifying period. This is not new. Municipalities that piggyback onto the general election are able to pre-qualify. When the municipality has elections in off years, that provision is not in their charter.”
Form 6
Because of a new state law that took effect on Jan.1, municipal candidates seeking election or reelection to a mayoral or city commission office must, for the first time, file a Form 6 financial disclosure form that lists the candidate’s net worth, all income sources, all debts (except credit cards) and all tangible assets valued at more than $1,000. County commission candidates were already subjected to the Form 6 filing requirements. Learn more about the Form 6 requirements at the Florida Commission on Ethics website.
Anna Maria
The two-week qualifying period in Anna Maria begins on Monday, June 3 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon. The mayor’s seat currently held by Dan Murphy and the city commission seats currently held by Gary McMullen and Mark Short are up for election in November.
Anna Maria City Clerk LeAnne Addy said during the May 9 city commission meeting that the pre-qualifying period begins on May 27. Qualifying packets will be accepted at that time, but Anna Maria candidates will not be considered qualified until the qualifying period opens on June 3.
Bradenton Beach
The one-week qualifying period in Bradenton Beach begins on Monday, June 10 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon.
The Ward 2 commission seat currently held by Marilyn Maro and the Ward 3 commission seat currently held by Ralph Cole are up for election this fall.
Maro has not attended a commission meeting in person in over a year but has attended several meetings by phone.
Holmes Beach
The one-week qualifying period in Bradenton Beach begins on Monday, June 10 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon. The mayor’s seat currently held by Judy Titsworth and the city commission seats currently held by Dan Diggins and Greg Kerchner are up for election.
Manatee County
The one-week qualifying period for county candidates begins on Monday, June 10 at noon and ends on Friday, June 14 at noon. County offices up for election this fall include the District 1, 3 and 5 county commission seats, the at-large District 7 county commission seat, the offices of the supervisor of elections, the county clerk, the property appraiser, the tax collector and the sheriff, the District 1 and 3 school board seats and West Manatee Fire Rescue board seats 1 and 5.
Registration, party affiliation
Preceded by early voting and mail voting, the Manatee County primary election will conclude on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The deadline to register to vote in the primary, or to change party affiliation for the party-specific primary elections, is Monday, July 22.
Preceded by early and mail voting, the general election will conclude on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is Monday, Oct. 7 and party affiliation doesn’t matter in a general election.
To register to vote or to change one’s party affiliation before the county primary, visit the “voter information” link at www.votemanatee.com or visit www.RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov.
For additional qualifying information regarding city and county races, contact the Supervisor of Elections office or the applicable city clerk’s office.
