If Rep. Paula Stark hadn’t waited until the very last day to qualify on the ballot, a state employee said the St. Cloud Republican could have been warned she was missing important paperwork.
But instead, Stark’s incomplete qualifying materials were timestamped less than 30 minutes before the noon deadline on June 12 and now she is suing to get on the ballot.
In the state’s response to her Leon Circuit Court lawsuit, Secretary of State Cord Byrd is asking the courts to keep Stark off the ballot as he sought to cast doubt on her claims about an alleged paperwork mix-up that ended up disqualifying her.
Five state employees gave sworn written court declarations that said Stark’s treasurer and partner, Joel Davis, never submitted the crucial Form 6 to them nor was he accidentally handed it back when he submitted the rest of the paperwork in the final hour of the qualifying window.
“Had Candidate Stark or Treasurer Davis ‘exercised the slightest degree of care or prudence in the matter’ by questioning why the Form 6 was allegedly handed back, ‘the mistake would have been discovered’ while Treasurer Davis was at the Division. Candidate Stark and Treasurer Davis knew the Form 6 was a required filing,” Bryd said in his response. “Or had Treasurer Davis not ‘taken the risk of waiting until too late for starting the necessary documents on the way to the office of the Secretary,’ in the first place, the missing Form 6 could have been submitted before the deadline.”
Three weeks after the qualifying deadline passed, Stark still hasn’t submitted Form 6, said Election Records Division Bureau Chief Erica “Ikay” Reeve in a disclosure filed in court.
“Without seeing the Form 6 that was allegedly submitted, we cannot review it for facial sufficiency in order to determine if Candidate Stark would have qualified,” Reeve said.
Reeve said Stark was one of 12 candidates who didn’t properly turn in Form 6. Half of them corrected the problems and still ended up qualifying, she said.
Form 6 is a public disclosure of financial interests.
Reeve also slammed Stark for her years of paperwork problems.
“As to Candidate Stark’s campaign, Treasurer Davis has filed a campaign finance report over one month late, reported excessive contributions, and has an incorrect address on file,” Reeve said. “In the 2022 and 2024 cycles, audits found inconsistent amounts transferred from the campaign account to the office account and a balance after termination, respectively. In the 2024 cycle, the failure to pay a late report fine upheld by the Florida Elections Commission was referred to debt collection for nonpayment in November of 2025.”
The state revoked Stark’s Friends of Paula political committee in November over $16,000 in unpaid fines from missed campaign finance deadlines.
If Stark is not on the ballot, then the August Primary for House District 47 is open to all voters to decide between Democrats Jorge Figueroa and Anthony Nieves. It would be a big win for Florida Democrats since no other Republicans filed to run in a traditionally blue House District representing Osceola and Orange counties.
Stark appears to be running out of time.
Byrd said ballots must be mailed to overseas military and their families by July 4 and vote-by-mail ballots are due out in the mail July 9-16.
“The Universal Primary Contest for House District 47 is already underway and reversing course would be costly and likely risk confusion and uncertainty in the results of this and other races on the ballot,” Byrd said in his court filing.
