WHO IS SCOTT C. BOUTWELL? -- PHANTOM "WRITE-IN" CLOSES SHERIFF'S RACE -- UNIVERSAL PRIMARY CANCELLED, DESPITE 1998 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

SCOTT C. BOUTWELL is a putative write-in candidate who signed up at 9;16 AM on the last day of qualifying who showed up yesterday, almost half the voters in St. Johns County -- 93, 454 of us can't vote for the next Sheriff this year.  That leaves only 104,073 registered Republicans eligible to choose between two Republicans -- Robert Hardwick and Christopher Strickland.



 Florida Constitution, Article VI, section 5(b) states: If all candidates for an office have the same party affiliation and the winner will have no opposition in the general election, all qualified electors, regardless of party affiliation, may vote in the primary elections for that office.

"SECTION 5. Primary, general, and special elections.—

(a) A general election shall be held in each county on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year to choose a successor to each elective state and county officer whose term will expire before the next general election and, except as provided herein, to fill each vacancy in elective office for the unexpired portion of the term. A general election may be suspended or delayed due to a state of emergency or impending emergency pursuant to general law. Special elections and referenda shall be held as provided by law.

(b) If all candidates for an office have the same party affiliation and the winner will have no opposition in the general election, all qualified electors, regardless of party affiliation, may vote in the primary elections for that office.

History.—Am. S.J.R. 162, 1992; adopted 1992; Am. proposed by Constitution Revision Commission, Revision No. 11, 1998, filed with the Secretary of State May 5, 1998; adopted 1998.

See also 101.021 and 101.041.

But as the 2016 Tampa Bay Times article establishes, this provision hasn't worked, because "opposition" has been misinterpreted -- merely filing as a write-in candidate is enough to erase voting  rights for tens of thousands of people.  In 2016, phantom write-in candidates disenfranchised a million people.

How unfair is that?

Why:?

For years, Southern Strategy founder JOHN THRASHER, absentee State's Senator, said he wanted no Democrats in any local offices.  THRASHER is now FSU President.  Former Speaker of the Florida House, he led the4 way on dirty tricks.

One was played on Friday, when half the people in St. Johns County -- 93,454 souls -- were disqualified from voting for Sheriff.

In 1998, We, the People of Florida adopted a state constitutional amendment providing for universal primaries where all of the candidates for an office are of the same party.  That would have let all the people of St. Johns County vote


Who recruited Scott C. Boutwell to file as putative write-in to run for Sheriff, closing universal primary in St. Johns County?  On Friday morning, a shill filed to run as a "write-in" for Sheriff.

It makes losers of all of us.

Blogger Michael Gold is urging people to switch to Republican to vote for Sheriff. The write-in is being used as a blatant scheme to increase Republican voter registration.  So manipulative.

I refuse to change my party registration to vote as a Republican for Sheriff. I've contacted Mr. Boutwell for an interview and asked him to kindly consider withdrawing his phantom write-in candidate.  I've been joined in this request by Ms. Patty O'Connell, the mother of murdered Michelle O'Connell, and the O'Connell family.

This write-in scheme should be declared unconstitutional, but it is all perfectly legal, thanks to litigation by Tallahassee power lower Mark Herron, blessed by controversial Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. legal loophole to the 1998 constitutional amendment for universal primaries where all candidates for an office are of one party and there is no opponent in the general election, this "phantom write-in" prevents every Democrat and every independent in St. Johns County from voting for Sheriff.