The ballot and current election will remain as is in the Osceola County School Board district 1 race after a judge ruled an irregularity with how election forms were notarized should not cause a candidate to be declared unqualified.
While the mother of Jennifer Arguello, running as a challenger to incumbent and School Board chair Terry Castillo, served as the notary for her qualification forms — which counsel for Castillo said was a breach of a state statute — Judge Robert Egan said that breach rests with the notary, and not the candidate, and that the state could take action against the notary for this.
"If a candidate is wronged by this, they can go after the notary," Egan said during a Wednesday afternoon hearing on the matter.
Early voting began Monday in Osceola County, and mail-in ballots had been sent to requesting county voters prior to that. James Nickles is also in the district 1 race.
Castillo's counsel Mark Herron had filed for emergency injunctive relief to find Arguello unqualified for the ballot when her mother, Ethel Urbina, notarized her documents, which he contended violates State Statute 117.107.
"The issue is whether they were properly notarized, and we contend they were not," Herron said Wednesday. "The candidate is responsible for following the qualifying documents."
Arguello's counsel Michael Sasso countered that Florida’s election law requires a candidate only need to “subscribe to an oath" – and Florida’s notary law does not prohibit a notary from administering an oath to a family member.
"The notary statue refers to administering oaths, not notarizations," he said. "It's come up in Florida before."
Early voting for this, along with two other School Board races and a number of Kissimmee and St. Cloud city races and a County Commission race, runs through Aug. 21 ahead of the Aug. 23 main election day. If no candidate receives 50 percent plus one vote in district 1, the top two vote-getters will be in a Nov. 8 run-off for the seat.
