Daniel or Dan, Helm prevails 

Whether he calls himself “Dan Helm” or “Daniel Helm,” the candidate “properly qualified” for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections election.

That’s per Ninth Circuit Court Chief Judge Lisa Munyon, who handed her decision down Thursday in the emergency motion for injunction and declaratory relief filed last month by former elections supervisor candidate Cynthia Harris. 

“Another victory for the rule of law,” Helm, a Democrat, told VoxPopuli Friday via text. “This was a sad and frivolous lawsuit from someone who does not understand the election code. Once again, I showed that I know the law and that I follow the law. Voters in Orange County deserve a supervisor of elections who fights for and defends the integrity of the elections process. That person is Dan Dan the Voting Man.”

In August, after Harris, an independent, filed her emergency motion, Helm suggested her lawsuit was filed “out of spite” because he filed the lawsuit that got her disqualified from the elections supervisor race. 

Harris argued in her motion that Helm should be disqualified because he failed to file a notarized Affidavit of Nickname. Helm’s legal name is Daniel Charles Halley Helm, but his candidate qualifying forms and candidate oath simply list him as Dan Helm. 

She cited Florida statute 99.021, which requires that candidates designate the name they want to have on the ballot, which “must include the candidate’s legal given name or names, a shortened form of the candidate’s legal given name or names, [emphasis added] an initial or initials of the candidate’s legal given name or names, or a bona fide nickname customarily related to the candidate and by which the candidate is commonly known, immediately followed by the candidate’s legal surname.” 

However, Harris only cited part of the statute. She left out the bit about the “shortened form of the candidate’s legal given name.”

In her decision, Munyon indicated that that was the key section of the statute. “Dan Helm is a shortened form of Daniel Charles Halley Helm and not a nickname,” she wrote. “Accordingly no nickname affidavit … was required.” 

Munyon went on to note that the statute is “clear and unambiguous” and that Harris’s “interpretation” of the statute “is incorrect.” 

Munyon was the judge who removed Harris, almost exactly a month ago, from the Nov. 5 ballot for improperly paying her candidate qualifying fee from a personal bank account rather than her campaign account. 

During the Aug. 13 hearing, it was discovered that Harris had attempted to cover up her error with forged bank depository documents to make it appear as if the qualifying fee had come from a different campaign account — a situation that has yet to be addressed legally.  

Munyon’s Aug. 16 decision upended the elections supervisor race, canceling the Democratic primary — even though voting was already underway — opening up the election to all voters and shifting the race to the Nov. 5 general election. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Harris intends to appeal her disqualification.