Florida Depart. of State v. Martin

• Decision Date: 10 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. SC04-2265.,SC04-2265.
• Citation: 916 So.2d 763
• Parties: FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DIVISION OF ELECTIONS, Appellant, v. Joseph MARTIN, et al., Appellees.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

916 So.2d 763

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DIVISION OF ELECTIONS, Appellant, v. Joseph MARTIN, et al., Appellees.

No. SC04-2265.

Supreme Court of Florida.

November 10, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Christopher M. Kise, Solicitor General, and Steven Todd Gold, Deputy Solicitor General, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellant.

Joseph Martin, Pro se, West Palm Beach, FL, for Appellee.

PARIENTE, C.J.

We have on appeal Department of State, Division of Elections v. Martin, 885 So.2d 453 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004), in which the First District Court of Appeal declared section 101.253(2), Florida Statutes (2004), unconstitutional. We have mandatory jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. The issue in this case is whether section 101.253(2), which gives the Department of State absolute discretion to allow a candidate to withdraw after the forty-second day before an election, violates the separation of powers principle set forth in article II, section 3 of the Florida Constitution. We affirm the First District and hold that section 101.253(2) is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers under article II, section 3 because the Legislature has impermissibly delegated to the executive branch absolute, unfettered discretion to determine whether to grant or deny a candidate's request to withdraw after the forty-second day before an election.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

James R. Stork qualified with the Department of State, Division of Elections (the Department) as the Democratic Party candidate for the Florida Congressional District 22 seat in the November 2, 2004, general election. On September 23, 2004, forty days before the election, the Department received a sworn notice from Stork seeking to withdraw as a candidate. On September 29, 2004, the Department, relying on section 101.253(2), notified Stork that "in the interest of avoiding disruption and confusion," his request to withdraw would be denied. Martin, 885 So.2d at 454. This in effect left the Democratic Party without the ability to substitute a candidate in his place prior to the election. Thereafter, members of the Congressional District 22 Democratic Party Executive Committee (Executive Committee), the appellees in this case, sought a mandatory injunction requiring the Department to declare that a vacancy had been created by Stork's withdrawal and to comply with section 100.111(4)(b), Florida Statutes (2004). This provision requires the Department to place on the ballot the name of a replacement candidate that is provided by the party's executive committee at least twenty-one days before the election.

At the hearing on the Executive Committee's request for injunctive relief, the Department acknowledged that on or before the forty-second day prior to an election, withdrawal of a candidate is a matter of right under section 101.253(2). The Department argued, however, that when a candidate seeks to withdraw after the forty-second day before an election, it has the absolute discretion under section 101.253(2) to grant or deny a request for withdrawal. In rejecting the Department's arguments, the trial court stated that "[t]o read Section 101.253(2) as the Department urges would essentially render Section 100.111(4)(b) meaningless." Martin v. Dep't of State, Div. of Elections, No. 04CA2400, order at 9 (Fla.2d Cir. Ct. order filed Oct. 8, 2004). Because section 100.111(4)(b) was enacted after section 101.253(2), the trial court concluded that the Legislature intended that section 100.111(4)(b) control the procedure for allowing a candidate's withdrawal and filling a vacancy in nomination. The trial court therefore entered a final order granting injunctive relief in favor of the Executive Committee.

The Department appealed the trial court's order to the First District.¹ In affirming the trial court's order, the First District held that section 101.253(2) unconstitutionally delegates legislative authority in violation of article II, section 3. The First District concluded that section 101.253(2) does not provide any criteria or standards to guide the Department in the exercise of the power delegated under the statute, but rather "vests unbridled discretion in the Department" to determine whether a candidate should be permitted to withdraw where the sworn notice was received fewer than forty-two days before a general election. Martin, 885 So.2d at 458. The First District determined that severing the offending portion of subsection (2) from the statute "would create an irreconcilable conflict between the remaining [portion] of subsection (2) and subsection (3), and possibly between subsection (2) and section 100.111(4)(b) as well." Id. Thus, the First District declared section 101.253(2) unconstitutional in its entirety. See id.

ANALYSIS

The issue before the Court is whether section 101.253(2) violates article II, section 3 of the Florida Constitution. "We review de novo a district court decision declaring a statute unconstitutional." Fla. Dep't of Children & Families v. F.L., 880 So.2d 602, 607 (Fla.2004). In resolving this issue, we begin by reviewing whether and to what extent sections 101.253(2) and 100.111(4)(b) relate to and may be reconciled with one another. Next, we review article II, section 3 of the Florida Constitution, as well as case law addressing the constitutionality of statutory provisions under the nondelegation doctrine of article II, section 3. We then analyze the constitutionality of section 101.253(2). Finally, we decide whether the unconstitutional portion of section 101.253(2) may be severed from the remainder of the statute.

I. Interplay of Sections 101.253(2) and 100.111(4)(b), Florida Statutes (2004)

In 1895, the Legislature first enacted statutory requirements governing placement of a candidate's name on an election ballot. See ch. 4328, § 30, Laws of Fla. (1895).² This statutory provision eventually became section 101.253(2). See ch. 65-378, § 9, Laws of Fla. Section 101.253(2) governs those instances in which a candidate's name will not be printed on an election ballot and provides:

No candidate's name, which candidate is required to qualify with the Department of State for any primary or general election, shall be printed on the ballot if such candidate has notified the Department of State in writing, under oath, on or before the 42nd day before the election that the candidate will not accept the nomination or office for which he or she filed qualification papers. The Department of State may in its discretion allow such a candidate to withdraw after the 42nd day before an election upon receipt of a written notice, sworn to under oath, that the candidate will not accept the nomination or office for which he or she qualified.

(Emphasis supplied.)

Section 100.111 was enacted in 1951, and relates to filling vacancies in governmental offices. See ch. 26870, § 4, Laws of Fla. (1951). The statute was amended by the Legislature in 1977, see ch. 77-175, § 12, at 942-45, Laws of Florida, "for the sake of clarity and to cover certain vacancies which had not been addressed previously." Fla. S. Comm. on Judiciary-Civ., CS for SB 563 (1977) Staff Analysis 2 (June 2, 1977) (available at Fla. Dep't of State, State Archives, ser. 18, carton 1284, Tallahassee, Fla.). The 1977 amendment to section 100.111 resulted in the statutory language set forth in section 100.111(4)(b).³ Section 100.111(4) governs the procedure for filling vacancies resulting from the death, resignation, withdrawal, or removal of a candidate. See § 100.111(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (2004). Section 100.111(4)(b) addresses vacancies that occur later than September 15 or less than twenty-one days prior to an election, and provides in full:

If the vacancy in nomination occurs later than September 15, or if the vacancy in nomination occurs with respect to a candidate of a minor political party which has obtained a position on the ballot, no special primary election shall be held and the Department of State shall notify the chair of the appropriate state, district, or county political party executive committee of such party; and, within 7 days, the chair shall call a meeting of his or her executive committee to consider designation of a nominee to fill the vacancy. The name of any person so designated shall be submitted to the Department of State within 14 days of notice to the chair in order that the person designated may have his or her name printed or otherwise placed on the ballot of the ensuing general election, but in no event shall the supervisor of elections be required to place on a ballot a name submitted less than 21 days prior to the election. If the vacancy occurs less than 21 days prior to the election, the person designated by the political party will replace the former party nominee even though the former party nominee's name will be on the ballot. Any ballots cast for the former party nominee will be counted for the person designated by the political party to replace the former party nominee. If there is no opposition to the party nominee, the person designated by the political party to replace the former party nominee will be elected to office at the general election. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "district political party executive committee" means the members of the state executive committee of a political party from those counties comprising the area involving a district office.

(Emphasis supplied.)

Both sections 101.253(2) and 100.111(4)(b) relate to Florida's election process. The doctrine of in pari materia is a principle of statutory construction that requires that statutes relating to the same subject or object be construed together to harmonize the statutes and to give effect to the Legislature's intent. See Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992) ("Where possible, courts must give full effect to all statutory provisions and construe related...