U.S. Senate candidates are criss-crossing the state in a final push for votes ahead of November, and ghost candidates can impact who wins elections. 

Scott, Mucarsel-Powell trek across Florida in U.S. Senate race

Sen. Rick Scott and former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell are traveling the state leaving no stone unturned ahead of the election in November. Spectrum News reporters Jeff Allen and Corina Cappabianca follow the candidates on the trail.

'Ghost candidates' can change election outcomes

A group of strangers are having a dramatic impact on local elections in Florida. They are technically candidates, but only “write-in candidates.”

Their names don’t even appear on the ballot. But these so-called "ghost candidates" could be deciding races by doing something one group calls “anti-democratic.”

Both Democrats and Republicans in Florida are doing it anyway, and it’s legal.

Who is Tom Dell? Ask around in his home county of Manatee and almost no one will know him.

Yet if you ask Joe McClash about his run for Manatee County Commission, in 2012, he said he would have won if Dell hadn’t been in the race.

Dell is what Integrity Florida Research Director Ben Wilcox calls a ghost candidate.

“In this election cycle here in Florida, it’s like we’re infested with ghost candidates,” he said.

Here’s how it works: Normally, Democrats pick a candidate during the primary and Republicans pick a candidate during the primary.

And the winners compete against each other in the general election.

But say the Democrats don’t run anyone in a race, so it’s only Republican candidates. Florida law says that Republican primary should now be open to all voters. Be they Republicans, Democrats, or independents.

The idea is that everyone should have a say, since that’s their only choice.

“The state Constitution really requires that it be an open primary if you don’t have anybody else running against you from another party. That was really the intent,” Wilcox said.

Except, there’s a loophole. If there’s a write-in candidate, the primary is closed again.

Meaning in our example, only Republicans get to vote.

So, who is to Dell?

He was the write-in candidate for county commission when McClash tried to win re-election in 2012.

He believes developers who wanted him, a moderate Republican, out of office convinced Dell to run as a write-in candidate, knowing McClash’s opponent would fare better in the race if only Republicans were voting, instead of all voters.

McClash lost.

“It’s anti-democracy, essentially,” Wilcox said.

He pinpointed dozens of examples of this in 2024, where ghost candidates run as write-ins for the sole purpose of closing a primary.

Hernando County Elections Supervisor Shirley Anderson said that her office follows the statute, and she’s right, none of the ghost candidates are breaking the law.