The Florida Republican Party is threatening a rules change for 2016 Presidential contenders wishing to take part in the party’s GOP primary early next year: show up to our conference in November or you won’t be on the ballot.
In a letter obtained by Conservative Intelligence Briefing that was recently emailed to presidential campaigns by Florida GOP Executive Director Brad Herold, he says the party will decide on September 25th whether or not to make attendance at a November event in Orlando mandatory in order to qualify for the March 15, 2016 primary ballot.
“The Executive Board of the RPOF met via conference call last night, and there is a potential change to the RPOF’s rules about filing requirements that will be voted on by our Executive Board on September 25th,” Herold wrote. “The change would require presidential candidates who are seeking to appear on Florida’s March 15th primary ballot to file paperwork in person at the RPOF’s Sunshine Summit on either November 13th or 14th in Orlando. Under this proposed rule, candidates who don’t attend the Sunshine Summit will not be eligible to appear on Florida’s PPP ballot.”
Here is the full letter:
“Presidential Campaigns,
I want to reach out to each of you to discuss a potential change to Florida’s ballot requirements for our Presidential Preference Primary.
The Executive Board of the RPOF met via conference call last night, and there is a potential change to the RPOF’s rules about filing requirements that will be voted on by our Executive Board on September 25th. The change would require presidential candidates who are seeking to appear on Florida’s March 15th primary ballot to file paperwork in person at the RPOF’s Sunshine Summit on either November 13th
or 14th in Orlando. Under this proposed rule, candidates who don’t attend the Sunshine Summit will not be eligible to appear on Florida’s PPP ballot.
While we won’t know the final outcome until September 25th, I understand this change could effect scheduling for your campaigns, so I wanted to make each campaign aware of this as soon as possible.
We have already been in contact with many of you about attending this important RPOF event. The Sunshine Summit is a showcase of our republican presidential candidates and will be attended by grassroots activists, donors, and elected officials from all across Florida. We also expect that this will be broadcast nationally on CSPAN and Sirius/XM.
If any of you don’t yet have the information on the RPOF’s Sunshine Summit, I’ve attached the informational packet to this email.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Brad Herold
Executive Director, Republican Party of Florida”
