On Nov. 18, U.S. District Court Judge Rodney W. Sippel entered a consent judgment forbidding the Board of Election Commissioners from confiscating campaign materials. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri had filed a civil rights lawsuit Oct. 30 on behalf of Jennifer Florida, a candidate for St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds.
Florida, a life-long Democrat, was appointed Recorder of Deeds for the City of St. Louis in July when the position became vacant. She decided to run for the position on the Nov. 4 ballot. Because the deadline to participate in the primary election had already passed, Florida ran as an independent Democrat and appeared on the Nov. 4 ballot as an independent. Some election judges seized her campaign materials on Election Day.
“Today’s consent judgment will put an end to election board judges seizing campaign materials because they think the materials are misleading,” says Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. “Those running for political office should never have to worry that the government will censor or seize their campaign materials.”
“It is not the role of government to determine what is ‘appropriate’ political speech. Doing so would allow those in power to control what the public can and cannot hear and that is a recipe for corruption,” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri.