The write-in wrinkle

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Posted June 8, 2026 | By Jennifer Hunt, [email protected]

As the qualifying period for local candidates opens, the major political news of the day is the filing of two write-in candidates for Marion County commission seats, a move that effectively locks 127,131 registered independent and Democrat voters out of these races.

Unless a registered Independent or Democrat candidate officially qualifies in those races by Friday’s deadline, Marion County voters with those political affiliations will have no say in who will represent them on the county commission.

Mark Oakus is a write-in candidate for the District 2 seat, while Leonard Michael Racioppi has filed as a write-in hopeful for the District 4 seat.

Because Florida is a closed primary state, voters are usually restricted to voting only for candidates within their registered political party. A notable exception to this rule is a Universal Primary Contest (UPC). A UPC occurs when all candidates for an office share the same party affiliation and face no opposition in the general election, which opens the primary up to all registered voters, regardless of party.

Since all the other candidates in the Districts 2 and 4 races are registered Republicans, all 263,464 registered voters in Marion County would be allowed to vote for these seats.  However, the addition of two write-in candidates means the GOP primary winner will have at least a nominal opponent in the November general election. This maneuver closes the primaries to only registered Republicans.

The inclusion of write-in candidates in partisan primaries in Florida has stoked controversy in Marion County and around the state in recent election cycles. These write-ins, often known as “ghost candidates,” have raised alarms among elections experts.

“Voters are being disenfranchised,” Ben Wilcox of Integrity Florida noted during the 2024 election season. “In Florida, it’s like we’re infested with ghost candidates.”

Write-in candidates, he pointed out, often make no effort to campaign or raise funds.

“The fact that they don’t even campaign, the voter doesn’t even know how to write in their name,” Wilcox told Spectrum News. “They really serve no purpose. They never win an election. It takes away people’s voice in who their eventual representative will be.”

Rules as different for write-in candidate

Closing a primary through a write-in candidate requires minimal effort.

According to Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox, write-in candidates follow essentially the same qualifying process as major party candidates, but they do not need to gather 2,659 signed candidate petitions or pay the standard qualifying fee of $6,653.76. They are only required to file the necessary forms.

Additionally, write-in candidates do not even need to live in the district when they file. According to the official 2026 qualifying information, the residency requirement for a county commissioner states that they only need to be an “Elector and Resident of District Upon Election,” meaning the residency mandate applies only to whomever wins the final vote.

School district races remain open to all Marion voters

While the county commission seats are partisan races subject to closed primary rules, the School Board races are nonpartisan. This guarantees that everyone registered to vote in Marion County will be able to participate in the School Board elections, regardless of their political party affiliation.

Who has filed and qualified so far?

As the qualifying window opens today, here is the list of candidates who have qualified or filed so far for the School District and County Commission seats (excluding withdrawn candidates):

County Commission District 2

• Matt Cretul (Republican) – Qualified
• Mike Crimi (Republican) – Qualified
• Brien Weidemiller (Republican) – Qualified
• Mark Okus (Write-In) – Qualified

County Commission District 4

• Randall Alvord (Republican) – Qualified
• Jeff Bairstow (Republican) – Qualified
• Wanda Wimberly Lasher (Republican) – Qualified
• Sherri Meadows (Republican) – Qualified
• Leonard Michael Racioppi (Write-In) – Filed

School Board District 3

• Eric R. Cummings (Nonpartisan) – Qualified
• Steve Swett (Nonpartisan) – Qualified

School Board District 4

• Jeff Brewer (Nonpartisan) – Qualified
• Mike Mills (Nonpartisan) – Qualified
• Brigitte Smith (Nonpartisan) – Qualified
• Buddy Wyckoff (Nonpartisan) – Qualified

School Board District 5

• Donald “Donny” Barber (Nonpartisan) – Qualified
• Sarah James (Nonpartisan) – Qualified
• Ualthan Bigby (Nonpartisan) – Filed

The final ballot will be solidified when qualifying ends at noon Friday. Those who qualify will be on the ballot in the Aug. 18 Primary Election. If no Independent or Democratic candidate qualifies, 127,131Marion County voters will have to wait for the general election to vote on the county commission race and will only have two choices: either the Republican primary winner or the write-in candidate.