Maxwell: Candidates who collect signatures to get on the ballot have my respect

In a few weeks, the fields for Florida's 2026 elections will be set when candidates officially "qualify" for their races.

Today, though, I want to talk about how candidates qualify. Because there are two very different ways.

They can either pay a filing fee, often somewhere between $1,000 and $10,000, depending on the office.

Or they can pound the pavement, asking fellow citizens - sometimes thousands of them - to sign a petition saying they think the candidate's name deserves to be on the ballot.

I have a lot of respect for the latter method. It's much harder. Candidates and their campaign teams usually have to scour neighborhoods and make the case directly to voters about why they think they deserve to be on the ballot. Voters must, of course, agree.

Perhaps most importantly, it forces the candidates and their campaigns to actually interact with the people they want to represent. That means they can't run for office from inside a bubble with consultants and attack ads doing all the work.

Most candidates opt to buy their way onto the ballot. And there may be some legitimate reasons for doing so. But I wanted to hear from the candidates taking the labor-intensive, connect-with-voters route.

So I put out a call on social media and heard back from candidates throughout the region - Republicans and Democrats running for everything from county commission and county judge to seats in Congress and the Florida Legislature.

The campaign of Victor Torres, a Democratic state senator now running for Orange County Commission District 8, actually touted his qualifying by petition in a fundraising pitch email to potential donors as proof that he’s using their money wisely. "He saved the campaign $4,948.81 in filing fees," the email said. "That's nearly $5,000 that can now go directly toward reaching voters, building our campaign, and fighting for working families."

Torres later said he also just wanted "to look folks in the eye" and "hear what they're dealing with."

The idea of doing hard work to prove a point also resonated with Patricia Rumph, a candidate for Orange County Commission District 7. "Anyone can write a check to get on the ballot," Rumph said. "I wanted to show that we were willing to put in the work and that our campaign has real grassroots support behind it."

Wes Hodge agreed. The candidate for Orange County Commission District 2 said he views the 1,152 signatures he collected as proof voters want him on the ballot. "Each petition we collected represents a resident who believes our community deserves leadership that works for everyday people and puts in the work to be their representative," he said.

Down in Osceola County, District 4 County Commission candidate Mary Downey said she wanted to start her campaign by listening. "I chose to qualify by petition because I wanted this campaign to begin with conversations," she said, noting that doing so allowed her to “hear both the joys and concerns citizens carry for our community.”

Several candidates running for area legislative seats also pounded the pavement. Samuel Vilchez Santiago, a Democrat running for Florida State House District 43 in east Orange County, said he personally knocked on more than 4,000 doors. "I grew up in this district, and I wanted to earn my place on the ballot the same way I plan to earn my place in office," he said, "by showing up."

Erin Huntley, a Republican running in Florida State House District 45 in Orange and Osceola counties, said that “to be a true representative of the people, you must understand their concerns as well as their dreams for the future. Qualifying by petition facilitates these conversations.”

And Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, a Democrat running in State House District 42 in Orlando, said he believes running for office "means more than writing a check. It means earning every resident’s trust by listening to their stories, understanding their challenges, and amplifying the solutions they want for their own communities."

There have even been a handful of congressional candidates collecting signatures. Barbie Harden Hall, a Democrat running for Congressional District 11 in Lake, Orange, Sumter and Polk counties, said she wanted to hear from voters directly but also take a stance against the office's $10,440 qualifying fee, saying she thinks it's "too high and prohibits everyday Americans from becoming candidates."

There are plenty more. Attorney Nathan A. Skop got a head start on his 2028 campaign for Seminole County judge by surpassing the 3,510 signatures required to run for judge, one of the higher bars to clear.

Skop originally collected them for a race this year. But that race was canceled when the sitting judge retired, meaning a new judge would be appointed rather than elected. So, in order to pivot and run for a different seat this year on short notice, Skop had to pay the qualifying fee for the 2026. But Skop said he still believes petitioning - which he said “took a lot of hard work in 100 degree heat" - helped him connect with many voters.

If you want to know which candidates qualified for the ballot via signatures, you can check the election sites run by the Florida Department of State and local elections supervisors after the qualifying period ends June 12. Or you can just ask a candidate who wants your vote how they got on the ballot - and why they decided to take that route.

Qualifying methods certainly aren’t the only measure you should use when evaluating candidates. Some stellar candidates just pay the filing fee. And some perfectly rotten ones collect signatures.

But all things being equal, I like candidates who put in the legwork. Because I simply don't believe you can interact with 1,000 citizens and not learn something about who they are and what they want - which should always be the goal.

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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 1:05 PM.