Judge Denies Bruce Childers’ Claim To Be On The Ballot for Supervisor of Elections

June 29, 2024

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to place attorney Bruce Childers on the ballot for Escambia County supervisor of elections.

Incumbent Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender disqualified would-be  GOP candidate Bruce Childers for not providing a copy of his required full and public financial disclosure Form 6 by the close of qualifying.

Childers was seeking an emergency declaration to put him back on the ballot as a qualified candidate for supervisor of elections.

Childers said he never received a call about any issues, which is something he claims should have been done, according to the Florida statute that states a qualifying officer shall make every reasonable effort to notify the candidate of missing or incomplete items.

Following a lengthy hearing Friday afternoon, Circuit Judge Jennifer Frydrychowicz sided with Bender, leaving Childers, a local attorney, off the ballot.

“I do not find any basis in law for taking such a bold step as to overrule the supervisor of elections,” Frydrychowicz said as she issued a verbal order.

The judge said testimony from Deputy Supervisor of Elections Sonya Daniel and assistant Keelie Sekerka led her to decide the SOE meet the requirements of election laws.

Bender is automatically elected as the only qualified candidate for Supervisor of Elections.

Photo courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “Judge Denies Bruce Childers’ Claim To Be On The Ballot for Supervisor of Elections”

  1. M in Bratt on July 1st, 2024 10:28 am

    Members of the legal profession always tell the rest of us that “ignorance of the law is no defense”. Maybe Mr. Childers should have sought legal advice. But wait, he is a lawyer

  2. Josh Jones on June 30th, 2024 9:29 pm

    Why was his application approved, before the deadline, by 2 Supervisor of Elections Officials, then told him, after the deadline, that his application was deficient?
    DIRTY POLITICS.

  3. bobk on June 30th, 2024 11:25 am

    So Childers thinks he is above the law? Or has shown his incompetence?

  4. Willis on June 29th, 2024 9:18 pm

    Good
    Ms. Childers puppet doesn’t qualify.
    Just a political stunt on their part.

  5. Melissa Pino on June 29th, 2024 4:23 pm

    So happy and proud that a local judge was willing to take this on rather than start the dominos of recusal.

    I was amazed that she was able to pull together such a profound and technically sound verbal ruling in advance of her written order, in the half hour or so she took.

    Everyone will be able to see exactly what she said when the transcript comes out, and it should be required reading in Escambia classrooms.

    But just taking one point from my notes (which are as close to verbatim as I could muster), her following statement summarizes both the legal truth and common sense at the same time:

    What Plaintiff was asking the Court to do was to override the Supervisor of Elections against state statute “because he would have complied if only he had been told a second time he needed to comply.”

    And there you have it.

  6. Lou on June 29th, 2024 10:08 am

    Good! Great job and decision Judge! No special treatment….the rules are the rules. Mr Bender and his office did their jobs….follow the rules!

  7. Whisperjet on June 29th, 2024 9:12 am

    Surprise surprise…Escambia politics has not
    changed..no integrity …no.justice..

  8. Whoops on June 29th, 2024 2:07 am

    The jobs not done til the paperwork is finished.
    Good. If deadlines aren’t met, it puts the printing of ballots behind. No special privileges should be forced by lawyer friends.
    Good call by the judge.

    Bender simply checked a box for his retirement at the time.Clerk could have got an AG opinion instead of blowing things up with that issue.

    If you say you’re gonna email the form, email the form, not cry victim and cast false blame.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News