What grounds may be asserted in an election contest?
[updated November 26] Florida law recognizes, among other grounds, “misconduct, fraud or corruption on the part of any election official or any member of the canvassing board sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election”; “receipt of a number of illegal votes or rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election”; as well as a broad catch-all provision: “[a]ny other cause or allegation which, if sustained, would show that a person other than the successful candidate was the person duly nominated or elected to the office in question [.]” Florida case law shows that the state’s courts are willing to entertain challenges to elections where there is a credible argument that the results in fact do not reflect the will of the voters. A challenge can be maintained even where no intentional wrongdoing is alleged. The Florida Supreme Court held, in the context of a disputed 1998 sheriff’s race in Volusia County, that a cou
