Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Mica foe: I wasn't 2 minutes late

OrlandoSentinel.com

CENTRAL FLORIDA The Area In Brief

Mica foe: I wasn't 2 minutes late

April 1, 2008

-Time got away from congressional hopeful Faye Armitage on Monday morning as she rushed to turn in her petition in Seminole County. Armitage is running for the District 7 congressional seat held by John Mica, R- Winter Park. Her petition was turned in two minutes late, according to the supervisor of elections for Seminole County, and thus will not be counted. Armitage insists she was on time.

The mishap doesn't mean Armitage can't be on the ballot. Election laws state that a candidate needs to collect signatures from 1 percent of registered voters from the district they want to represent. Armitage has enough signatures without counting the ones in Seminole, she said. If the petitions are not approved, she can pay a qualifying fee that will put her name on the ballot.

The Jacksonville Democrat traveled from Jacksonville toSeminole County to register to run for the seat. Armitage said she has proof that her cell-phone clock read 11:59 a.m. when she handed over her papers.

However, Michael Ertel, the county's supervisor of elections, said he has time-stamp documentation that shows that her papers were filed after 12:02 p.m. He said his office's clocks are synchronized with the U.S. Naval Observatory Master Clock.


Susan Jacobson, Gary Taylor, Sandra Pedicini, Daphne Sashin and Tammie Wersinger of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

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