In his attorney’s response to Bruce Childers’ emergency motion for injunctive relief, Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender says Bruce and Pam Childers were told that a photo of the tablet screen with the first page of Form 6 was not adequate. According to his staff, the Childers said they would email them the completed form, but they didn’t.
Also, Sonya Daniel determined that Bruce Childers did not qualify. Bender did not handle any of the paperwork or rule on the matter.
Here is the SOE narrative:
In reviewing the documentation on June 12, 2024, Ms. Daniel and/or Ms. Sekerka had a discussion with Plaintiff and his wife concerning the missing pages including the fact that there were other candidates who utilized Apple devices that were having problems generating all the pages for the Form 6.
It was also relayed to Plaintiff and his wife that the entire Form 6 was required, including the verification page. Ms. Sekerka instructed them that it would be fine to email the completed form to her. Ms. Sekerka offered to provide her email, but Plaintiff and his wife told her they already had her email address.
Because it was expected that Plaintiff or his wife would email the remaining documents of the Form 6—Ms. Daniel and Ms. Sekerka treated the qualifying papers as complete. Both Ms. Daniel and Ms. Sekerka initialed and completed the checklist that aids their review of qualifying papers, but this worksheet is not a certification that a candidate has qualified. It was not until Plaintiff’s paper
It was not until Plaintiff’s paperwork was being subsequently reviewed on June 17, 2024, after the close of qualifying, that it was discovered the remaining pages of the Form 6 had not been received and included in the file.
When it was discovered, a search of the Escambia County Elections Office email system was conducted to ascertain if the email was received but overlooked or sent to a spam folder, and it was confirmed that no email providing any additional documents 9 of Plaintiff’s Form 6 had been received.
After reviewing and considering only the first Page of the Form 6 was provided, Ms. Daniel determined that Plaintiff had not qualified to run for the position of Supervisor of Elections because he did not submit a complete, verified Form 6.
Ms. Daniel contacted Plaintiff by phone on June 18, 2024, and informed him that his Form 6 had not been received by the qualifying deadline, and that as a result he did not qualify to run for the position of Supervisor of Elections.
Ms. Daniel also met with Plaintiff, his wife, and his financial advisor that same day in person and relayed the same information. Ms. Daniel also sent an email on June 20, 2024, informing Plaintiff of his failure to qualify to run for the position of Supervisor of Elections based upon providing an incomplete Form 6.
Read 9-9-20-221