A recent letter filed by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections on August 3, 2023, reveals that the Reform Party of Florida has lost its minor party status. Along with its loss of status comes a loss of ballot access. This cancellation comes in response to the party’s failure to comply with the annual required state audit.
According to the final cancellation notice (and most recent correspondence) dated August 3, 2023, the Division initially informed the Reform Party of Florida in early April of its intent to cancel.
In that initial April 6, 2023, letter addressed to Chairwoman Jenniffer Desatoff, the Florida Department of State first reported that the Reform Party of Florida had not fulfilled the 2022 annual public audit requirements outlined in Florida Statute Section 103.121(2). The organization was granted a 30-day window to submit the correct documentation to dispute the cancellation. If no action was taken to address the compliance issue in that window, the minor party status of the Reform Party of Florida would be at risk of cancellation.
Readers can view Florida Statute Section 103.121(2) on the website of the Florida Legislature.
Chairwoman Desatoff responded the following month, in a letter dated May 5, 2023, that the organization had yet to bring in any revenue to report or have audited. She additionally expressed frustration with an inability to reach someone at the Division help desk for assistance with the party’s particular situation.
“I received a notice from the Division of Elections regarding a delinquent treasurer’s report which we failed to submit in a timely manner,” she wrote. “I have attempted to contact the help desk numerous times to request guidance on what actions to take as the Reform Party of Florida does not have any funds incoming our outgoing to report or to have audited. I have not received any return call or assistance in this matter.”
According to further correspondence, the Division of Elections made additional efforts to contact Chairwoman Desatoff through phone and email following her initial request for assistance on May 5, 2023.
In one such email exchange, Chairwoman Desatoff informed the Division that the organization was facing challenges in finding an auditor for less than $1,000.00.
“I have not been able to find a CPA that will complete this work for a reasonable cost, and the party has not received or raised any funds,” Desatoff wrote in a June 15, 2023 email. “Please proceed with your processes as needed and we will continue to work towards finding a reasonable auditor for less than $1,000.00.”
In a letter response from the Division dated the following day, on June 16, 2023, it was stated that no documentation was received and the cancellation process would proceed. The Reform Party of Florida was then granted an additional 30 days to request a formal hearing regarding the matter.
There would be no further correspondence from the Division beyond another reminder of the failure to file until the August 3, 2023, letter. Readers can access a full chronological listing of correspondence between the Reform Party of Florida and the Florida Division of Elections here.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that letters from the Division of Elections, dated April 11, 2023, and July 11, 2023, in addition to a copy of the August 3, 2023, letter, were addressed to the Reform Party of Florida Treasurer and returned to the sender on all three occasions.
Independent Political Report has reached out to both Reform Party Chair Nicholas Hensley for comments and Reform Party of Florida Chair Jenniffer Desatoff for clarification regarding the failure to file and the returned letters from the treasurer. The article will be updated with additional information once their responses are received.
Thanks to Joe Wendt for informing Independent Political Report of the cancellation.
Joe, when the Secretary of State put the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the ballot for president in 2020, the Secretary of State was breaking the law!!! That is the irony of the spotty enforcement of the 2011 law. It was not enforced in 2012, and it was not enforced in 2020. But it was enforced in 2016, to keep Evan McMullin off the 2016 ballot as the Independent Party presidential nominee. PSL and the Independent Party filed a federal lawsuit in 2019, in preparation for the 2020 election. The US District Court judge refused injunctive relief. But then the Secretary of State put PSL on the ballot for president anyway!! I have all the briefs and I will help you see them if you are interested. I was a witness in that case.
I’m not aware of the modern Natural Law Party existing anywhere beyond Michigan and the Socialist Party are very spotty running candidates to say the least, so how are they considered national committees?
Richard Winger,
PSL isn’t recognized by the FEC and has ballot access.
The FEC does not recognize No Labels as a “national committee”. The FEC won’t grant such recognition until after a party has been on the ballot in a fair number of states for president and congress.
It takes a vote of the FEC commissioners to grant “national committee” status. There has been no such vote by the FEC in connection with No Labels. No Labels got its presidential status in Florida by submitting a petition of 1% of the number of registered voters. No Labels is the only third party that has ever completed that petition. It didn’t exist in the law until 2011.
Richard Winger,
The Reform Party doesn’t have the skill set or institutional know to get on the ballot. They lost ballot access after they conducted a hostile takeover and pushed out the Alliance Party aligned leadership. So, doubtful they could obtain ballot access again.
Furthermore, non fec recognized parties such as the No Labels Party do have ballot access, so there are more parties with ballot access besides the ones you mentioned.
Not sure how LP Florida is handling these requirements now (which were created to burden the Florida LP with over $67K in audit fees–one for state and one for each county) but when I was on the board it was handled by always having our own libertarian CPA willing to do it for free.
The Reform Party has a valuable asset, relative to Florida. The Reform Party is recognized by the FEC as a national committee. Therefore, under the stupid 2011 law passed in Florida, they are one of only 8 parties that can be on the ballot for president without a horribly repressive petition (about 130,000 signatures). The others are Dem, Rep, Libt, Green, Constitution, Natural Law, and Socialist.
Would’ve became a member in 2000 if what happened to the party in 2000 hadn’t’ve occurred.
Time to fold and give any remaining assets and members to a like-minded political entity they mostly align with.