THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL HOUSE ...

HOW DID I GET HERE?

With apologies to the Talking Heads, questions abound when it comes to the residency of Florida politicians. The Florida Constitution requires that as of election day, each legislator must be a resident of the district "from which elected." Similar residency requirements exist for other public officers such as judges, state attorneys, public defenders, and county or city commissioners.

Failure to comply with Florida's strict residency and other qualification criteria is fatal. Knocking someone off the ballot can clear the field and secure the election before it occurs. A few recent examples illustrate confusion over the issue and the severe consequences for getting residency wrong:

• Last week, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran created a special committee to investigate whether Rep. Daisy Baez violated Florida's residency requirement by failing to live in House District (HD) 114 when elected last November. According to reports, neighbors claim never to have seen Rep. Baez at the rental property she claimed as her residence in the district. While the investigation has yet to run its course, the issue may have already taken a toll. At the time questions were first raised over her residency, Rep. Baez was planning a run for Florida Senate - but quickly dropped out. While there may be no cause and effect, the press reported that the residency issue had infected the Senate race.

• In last month's hotly contested Republican primary race in the special election for HD 116, Jose Mallea sued Daniel Perez for making false claims about his (Perez's) residency and listing an uninhabitable home (which was undergoing major renovations at the time) as his residence in the district. The complaint essentially speculated that Perez might not be living in the house come election day. Mallea dismissed the lawsuit after he lost the primary.

• Just last week, Paul Chandler, the lone Democrat to qualify for the HD 44 special election, announced that he would withdraw under cloud of a lawsuit alleging that he did not satisfy a different residency requirement, i.e., residing in Florida for two years prior to the election. He is alleged to have voted as a Missouri resident in November 2016 - less than one year prior to the HD 44 election. Had Chandler formally withdrawn, Democrats could have named a replacement for the ballot. Chandler instead recanted the withdrawal and his name will appear on the general election ballot as the Democrats' nominee. If he loses the lawsuit and is disqualified, the Democrats will not be allowed to name a replacement - handing the election to the Republican candidate without opposition.

So, what gives? Do these candidates not know where they live? Not at all; instead, two things are at work. First, due to redrawn district boundaries and the uncertainty of winning nominations or elections, candidates living outside the district of the office they seek are often hesitant to sell their homes prior to election day. Some candidates choose instead to rent a residence within the district. At least one trial court has held that this method satisfies the residency requirement so long as other indicia of residency are present. Second, there appears to be a fair amount of confusion over what it means to be a resident when qualifying for election.

The Florida Election Code does not define "resident." Courts define residence as "the place where a person has fixed an abode with the present intention of making it their permanent home." This is a fact-sensitive inquiry, and a recent lawsuit involving a Tallahassee city commissioner is instructive.

The commissioner's election was challenged on the basis that although the commissioner rented a modest abode within the city limits, he owned and lived in a large home outside the limits. The challenger failed to establish that the commissioner's legal residency at the time of the election was outside the city limits. The commissioner presented evidence of using the city address for his voter registration, W-2 wage and tax statements, and vehicle registrations. Although not an exhaustive list of the ways one may establish residency, the court found the evidence sufficient to rule in the commissioner's favor.

While home may be where the heart is, if running for office, make sure that it is not only where you actually live but also where you do such things as register to vote, pay taxes, and register your vehicles