Lynn Dierksen of Orlando was surprised to get a new voter ID card in the mail this week which revealed she was suddenly without a party. The Independent Party of Florida, founded in 1992, was stripped of its official status because it didn’t use a certified public accountant to audit its finances in 2014. “I really don’t like the change going out without people being informed,” said Dierksen, who had to call the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office to learn why she no longer belonged to the Independent Party. “Right now, with what’s going on with politics, I’m just suspicious of everything.”
Ernie Bach, chair of the party based in Largo, vowed to reapply with the state Division of Elections and have its status returned. But even if that happens, the party will have to rebuild its base of more than 260,000 members entirely from scratch. “This was a legal technicality,” Bach said. “Now all 260,000 have to reapply and 67 county superintendents of elections have to go through the process and time it takes to re-register everyone. It’s just a boondoggle, is what it is.”
The Independent Party of Florida, which originally grew out of Ross Perot’s run for president in 1992, is a “middle of the road” party, Bach said. It most recently made headlines in Florida by trying to get Evan McMullin, an independent conservative presidential candidate, on the ballot in Florida. Gov. Rick Scott denied McMullin a spot, leading the party to ultimately endorse Hillary Clinton based on a survey of its members.
The party has run local candidates in several races, including Matthew Falconer in a 2014 state House race in west Orange County.
Full Article: State wipes out Independent Party of Florida – Orlando Sentinel.