Letter: Please donate to SOE Candidate Judith Jensen’s filing fee
Letter to the editor
Our friend Judith Jensen filed as a candidate for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) in July of 2023. Supervisor Kim Barton ran unopposed in 2020, and Jensen is the only Republican candidate to run for this important position since 2004.
Ms. Jensen worked diligently to gather the required 1,809 petitions needed to qualify for inclusion on the November 2024 ballot, submitting a total of 1,997 signed petitions to the SOE office by the May 13, 2024 deadline, more than the 1,809 required. Because petitions had been solicited for over 10 months, there were 78 duplicates from people who had forgotten they signed one. A total of 256 petitions were rejected by the SOE office, leaving Jensen with only 1,741 accepted, and she failed to qualify by petition to be included on the ballot. The only alternative is to pay $10,112 to qualify. Please visit her website, Jensen 4 Alachua Supervisor of Elections, and contribute.
Any SOE challenger is in the unique position of having their petitions judged by those currently holding the office. There is no avenue for appealing any decisions rejecting the signed petitions. It appears to be an ethical conflict of interest from which the incumbent should recuse themselves and have an impartial party making determinations of acceptance.
Many of the rejections hinged on signature verification – whether the signature on the petition matched the signature on record. For a fee, Ms. Jensen was allowed to compare the 60 rejected signatures with those on file. Many had consistent characteristics in her opinion, based on her signature training. However, only one signature per signer (perhaps many years old) was available for viewing.
According to statistics provided by the SOE office, county-wide results for the election of November 2020 showed that 49 of the vote-by-mail ballots out of 61,819 received were rejected for signatures not matching. This was a 0.079% rejection rate and was the exact same percentage for the November 2022 election (25/31,463). So the signature rejection rate for her petitions being 60 out of 1,919 (3%) was unexpectedly high if the same criteria were utilized.
Keeping in mind that petitions have numerous fields to be completed and people are signing on clipboards at festivals, porches, etc., the level of attention to detail is often less than the two items on a vote-by-mail envelope: signature and date. In contrast, when determining whether to accept the signature on vote-by-mail ballots, the canvassing board may accept a signature based on finding ANY similarity in the signatures. Almost all the signatures that were challenged by election integrity citizen observers were overridden by this process.
The more senior voters who completed the petitions stand to be disenfranchised by not giving them some latitude for their age. Signatures change significantly over time, especially if the original registration signature is old. In some instances, voters filled in the “birthdate” box with the correct month and date but put 2024 as the year. Voter intent was not considered; the date was incorrect, and the petition was rejected. One lady accidentally put an extra “1” in the voter ID number, and the petition was rejected despite everything else being correct.
Alachua County voters deserve to have a choice for Supervisor of Elections in November. Judith Jensen is committed to public service in that capacity, but she needs financial help to pay the qualifying fee on June 11. If you want the opportunity to vote for a diligent election integrity advocate, go to her website Jensen 4 Alachua Supervisor of Elections and make a contribution. You won’t regret it.
Jean DeSerio, Gainesville
Marian Lee, Gainesville
Lizabeth Doebler, Micanopy
The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. Assertions of facts in letters are similarly the responsibility of the author. Letters may be submitted to info@alachuachronicle.com and are published at the discretion of the editor.
well, this is an interesting turn of events and was very expected… I have reached out to a person to get Judith my information as there is information she may want to hear. A specific question was asked at the citizen’s academy. There needs to be legislation when it comes to this type of thing because it is a conflict of interest and several in that office are very close.
I have gotten to know Ms Jensen over the last two voting cycles and I believe she has both the knowledge and integrity to do a superior job for us as our Supervisor of Elections. I urge everyone to dig deep into their pockets to support this fine candidate for public service.
She needs to learn the Election Laws and stop playing with the Citizens of Alachua County. The process you chose to use was by way of petitions it failed for you. Don’t make it about anything other than that. You failed!
Per Election Laws, Ms. Jensen chose to use petition instead of paying 3% of the incumbents salary to file. Ms. Jensen also filed the required Affidavit of Undue Burden to file using petition signatures.
Here is the link to her filed documents:
https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?op=cv&e=49&c=alachua&ca=667&rellevel=4&committee=N
What is at question is the fact that County Elections are considered local and do not go to State of Florida for applicable actions. In this case, the current SOE’s organization (spell that workers (subordinates, peers) evaluated Ms. Jensen’s applicable documents, petitions!
Sound fair? I highly doubt it!
Does anyone know how far off she is from meeting the amount needed? It may help give people an idea how big a push is needed
From the GiveSendGo page for her donations, a total of $427 has been donated as of tody, 26 May 2024. Not sure when the GSG account was opened but this leaves a huge gap vs the required $10,112.
Sad! Finally someone working to give voters a choice and their candidacy is basically “cancelled” by the very person they are trying to unseat! Definitely needs to be looked at by higher authority!
Republican Party of Alachua County/Florida: Are you going to support this candidate? She has taken the lead and shown great courage and determination to get this far! Show us the money!
It is a non-partisan office – yet the hopeful candidate makes it clear she is a Republican. While she states goals that anyone would want from a Supervisor of Elections, she has no experience in public service and no understanding of election law. She is not qualified to certify our elections because she does not respect the processes of government – no matter how frustrating they are.
Please state exactly how she does not respect the processes of government.
Nonpartisan? Really? So the filing forms of the Democratic incumbent, are incorrect? She (the current SOE) lists herself running as a Democrat? Care to comment?
Here is the link to the, as you say “nonpartisan” incumbents’ filing statements and declaration forms (as a Democrat):
https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?op=cv&e=49&c=alachua&ca=674&rellevel=4&committee=N
Whether Ms. Jensen is qualified or not is your opinion (and as with your a$$, everyone has one)! It is not your place to judge her qualifications, you get one vote like everyone else!
It is like ‘non-partisan’ city commission races. The G’ville Sun always made a point to point out, as often as possible, if a candidate was a Republican.
Why do you care? You got voted out decisively; no one wanted to vote for the candidate you endorsed; and nobody voted for you to be on any boards despite nominating yourself over and over again. Get a clue. Maybe your negative endorsement will actually help this woman, if history repeats itself.
Sounds like the incumbent is a bit nervous of the red competition.
Judith Jensen has been a prominent figure in watching closely how the voting ballots are counted, particularly in High Springs. She also brought together a group of citizens to offer an alternative to the status quo and it has paid off. I’ve seen her enthusiasm in meetings. She’s worked hard to educate herself as to the requirements of an SOE. I have contacted her with questions on numerous occasions and she responds in a timely manner. She attends meetings of local campaigns. Yes, she is a Republican, and yes this is a nonpartisan race. We’ve seen too often that it’s brought up by democrats who hope to use it as a deterrent even in small cities. I will work hard to help elect Judith Jensen.
A Republican who cannot read and comply with the posted rules is not qualified to have any office. A Republican who cannot follow the rules whines and becomes a MAGA election denier even before they qualify for election. Unfair!!!!!!!
Perhaps this is why intelligent people in Alachua County do not elect more Republicans?
When political novices decide to run for office they frequently run into problems because they are new to the process. The rules are clear for everyone and are explained to any and all candidates who file to run. The candidate’s attention to detail and following through is crucial. Yes, its hard – that goes with the territory – but its unbecoming to whine about how hard it is when a candidate missteps.
Finally, it is ironic that Ms. Jensen is asking voters to trust that she has the skills to run the SoE office and administer elections when she’s stumbling on the first step to even get on the ballot.
Well you’ve botched up quite a bit in Alachua County during your time here.
How convenient for the challenged incumbent, a Democrat, to be the sole and final judge of a challenger, a Republican. Oh yeah, Remember when Barton was conducting county business with a VOLUNTEER Polling site when she injured herself due to her own clumsiness and then sued the church instead of using her workmans comp. Not very ethical, is she?
I just donated – thanks for the link and the call to action!
Republican Jensen is essentially complaining just how HARD it is to follow the published election rules to even qualify to run for office.
Consider this: Gainesville and Alachua County, according to most commentors on this board, are run by some of the dumbest, stupidest, and incompetent people on planet earth. Yet, EVERY ONE of them managed to qualify to run, or they would not be in public office, putting them lightyears ahead of Ms. Jensen. And most of them are Democrats. How can that possibly be? Republicans here keep whining they are smarter than Democrats.
This only shows the Alachua County Republican Party need better leadership, for starters. (They also need a published platform, not just a mad lust for power, as “Vote for me only because I am not a Democrat” is NOT a viable platform or agenda.)
Often times “steps” are taken by the underlings of the ruling class whose only purpose is to impede more conservative ideas, candidates from making it to the ballot.
A published platform, huh? Does that mean the Democrat Machine is going to finally acknowledge their plan to continue to ripoff GRU ratepayers, if they get another chance? That seems to be the main direction of Ward and company.
HIt is indeed a matter of concern that the verification of the collected signatures rests with the SOE office and staff, as it creates a clear conflict of interest.
It is quite astonishing that just the right number of signatures were invalidated, leaving you taken aback.
Furthermore, the absence of any opportunity for appeal to contest the findings raises additional concerns.
Ideally, an impartial third party should have been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing and validating the disputed signatures. The process should have been conducted in a nonpartisan manner. However, in Alachua County, unfortunately, such a concept has never been allowed to flourish.
Hello my dear friends. As someone who has run for county wide office 3 times, and under multiple SOE’s, I can assure you that the certification of petitions is an even-handed process. I’ve always had to collect hundreds more than the required amount, and turn them in regularly to make certain that I had enough. Just wanted to add some context.
Judith Jensen is a worthy candidate for SOE. She has participated in Voting Integrity organizations and is knowledgeable in the voting process. I donated here:
Complete your action for Judith Jensen for Alachua Supervisor of Elections: https://secure.anedot.com/judith-jensen-for-alachua-supervisor-of-elections/donate
A Republican as SOE? So she can suppress the vote? HELL NO!
Suppress? We know you meant to say confirm eligibility.