Paperwork share by Rep. Paula Stark shows she filed her Candidate Oath paperwork in person in Tallahassee on Friday, ahead of the noon deadline to file. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
MONDAY UPDATE: State Rep. Paula Stark issued a statement regarding her lack of qualifying to be on the ballot to run for a third term in the state House of Representatives.
In short, Stark is not giving up on appearing on appearing on the November general election ballot, said she believes her team did everything required by law to qualify for the ballot, and referenced an incident at the Division of Elections counter when filing her forms last week.
"They were in the process of having security remove an individual that was causing disruption of the process and had backed up close to a dozen other candidates who were in line, to also submit their paperwork," she said. "Thus, the normal operation of the process appeared to be potentially disrupted, as they were trying to clear up the backlog of applicants."
The receipt of her financial disclosure filings, called a Form 6, is what she believes led to the confusion during the, well, confusion. Stark furnished a receipt from the Commission of Ethics received Thursday, the day before the Friday filing deadline.
"We have the digitally accepted receipt of that form from the COE, which is available online for anyone to see," Stark said. "I am committed to cooperating fully with any, and all lawful processes to be on the ballot and ensuring that the public receives accurate information.
SATURDAY: The candidate qualifying period for candidates running in the 2026 election cycle closed Friday at noon, and the process has yielded seven contested elections for those who will serve in Kissimmee or St. Cloud, four state Legislative seats, two U.S. Congressional seats and a U.S. Senate race.
Osceola County voters will also vote with the rest of Floridians, starting with the Aug. 18 primary, for candidates for U.S. Senator, Governor and state Cabinet positions like Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Agriculture. The general election is Nov. 3.
One of the local names conspicuously missing from the Department of State’s list of state legislative candidates is Paula Stark, the two-time Republican District 47 state legislative incumbent. During the day Friday, the deadline for candidates in all Florida races to qualify for the ballot, her status was listed as “Active” rather than “Qualified”.
When reached about her status, Stark assured the News-Gazette she had filed her candidacy paperwork, even showing copies of her State Candidate Oath form and receipt of her financial disclosure filings, called the Form 6 by state election officials. Her stance Friday night was that the state’s website was still processing candidate forms from around the state. That was prior to the evening, when she was no longer listed, with Democratic candidates Jorge Figueroa and Anthony Nieves only listed as qualified in District 47.
“We filed it electronically, and we have the receipt,” said Campaign Treasurer Joel Davis.
Stark and Davis said they hoped the situation would be rectified on Monday – and that filing a court order is a possibility.
“We are looking forward to a favorable outcome,” Stark said over the weekend.
Should Stark, the only Republican who filed to run, not get on the ballot, then Figueroa and Nieves would face off in an open primary on the August ballot that all District 47 voters, regardless of party, would vote in.
For the details of rest of the races Osceola County voters will decide in August, check out our qualification wrapup from Friday.
Check back this week for updates on this developing story.
