Full disclosure, This guide is a amalgamation of data published by Florida Family Action, the Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC) and the Seminole County Republicans with a few variants. We also referenced local Democrat voter guides for advice on what NOT to recommend on non-partisan races. We thank them for the warnings. The design is similar to OCREC’s, but your author (me) also had a hand in designing theirs with Deanna Ortner. Florida statutes prohibit political parties from endorsing judicial candidates and political parties don’t like to recommend individuals outside of their respective parties. These restrictions and preferences left other guides incomplete for our members. The Tea Party Movement is not encumbered by such restrictions.
Since our audience is mainly divided between Orange and Seminole Counties, we include information for both while keeping it all contained within a single printable page. This makes it more useful for distribution at community functions like church groups where people from both counties might gather. Sorry voters in Longwood and Altamonte Springs, we opted NOT to include your region specific elections to conserve room.We focused mainly on Eastern Orange and Seminole Districts.
While there is an NPA selection in our guide, We would NOT call these non-partisan voter guides. Therefore while YOU can distribute them, your church may have reasonable reservations. Use wisdom and discretion and do not let your actions encourage another to stumble in the faith. Florida Family Action produces church safe voter guides. The reason we do not simply share theirs is because they span several pages, they are not localized to our area, and they do not provide outright direction on amendments.
We also differ from some partisan guides because our guide does NOT recommend abolishing the Constitutional revision commission. It is a necessary tool to correct some of the mess in the Florida Constitution by organizations and activists who wish to bypass the legislative process and insert rules in the constitution that are best left to the legislature. The commission can only suggest revisions. All suggestions still need to be placed on the ballot for 60% voter approval. A NO vote on the ballot is a vote to keep the Constitutional Revision Commission.
Florida Family Action provided the recommendations on the judicial candidates. We reproduced their preferences in our guide so it will be on one sheet of paper. If you are not voting for judges in the 5th District Court of Appeals, please reference their guide for the other Florida districts. Orange and Seminole are currently both in the 5th District.
This is the most direct and comprehensive election guidance we have produced in our history. Please print, reproduce, use and share this guide and the information contained within.