(CNN) – There's no doubt Gov. Charlie Crist has high name recognition in Florida, but voters there may still may have a problem finding his name on the ballot come November.
That's because Crist, running as an independent candidate for Senate, will appear in the ninth position out of 10 candidates on the ballot, appearing between other party-less hopefuls Rick Tyler and Lewis Jerome Armstrong, according to the Florida Secretary of State's office.
That's because Florida law mandates the two major parties appear first followed by minor-party candidates. Candidates, like Crist, who are not running under the banner of any particular party, appear last. Of the candidates without a party, the order is determined by when the candidate filed. Crist was running as a Republican until late last spring and so was among the last candidates to file as an independent.
"It's an issue, obviously," Crist told reporters Wednesday.
Of course, the state has a rocky history with ballots – most recently in 2000 when a confusing set up appeared to cause thousands of Floridians to accidentally cast their vote for libertarian candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Democrat Al Gore.
Earlier this year Crist dropped his bid for the GOP Senate nomination. Crist – who is used to appearing on top of the ballots – said the new configuration means his campaign has the burden of educating voters where they can find his name.
"We're just going to have to have an education process to make sure people know it's not the normal course of affairs," he said.
A Reuters-Ipsos poll out Thursday showed indicates Crist 14 points behind Republican Marco Rubio among likely voters, 40-26 percent. Democrat Kendrick Meek is at 21 percent.
From CNN Politics
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All he did was try to distance himself from the stinking repugliklan brand, he probably didn't disavow their short-sighted, morally bankrupt ideology. hope the people of Florida see his change as nothing but political opportunism and vote for the Democrat who will actually do something for the people of the state and the country instead of just pandering to the rich and big business!
In other words, as much as the major parties rip at each other, they conspire nicely to shut out anyone not a member of the statist duopoly.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could assume voters had enough brains to vote?
Let's summarize...
Charlie Crist couldn't win his party's primary, so he quits.
Charlie Crist is down 16 points.
Charlie Crist is making excuses of the most trivial nature.
That should tell you all you need to know about Charlie Crist.
Oh, goodness, CNN – media crying on behalf of Crist. You mena to tell me Crist and his hired guns weren't smart enough to figure out where his name was going to be on the ballot from the day he decided he'd run as an Independent.
All those lawyers, Crist himself.
How is this an issue, Crist? It's not an issue, it's the law.
wah wah
Scott, Rubio, Bondi – let's get to work Florida.
Well he has to inform voters in AD where they can find his name in ballot.
Since Crist has name recognition, then part of his campaign needs to focus on how to find him on the ballot. Pointing out that the "establishment" parties have an unfair advantage by being listed at the top of the ballot should play well in a year of frustration with incumbents (including incumbent parties).
Well he has to inform voters in AD where they can find his name in ballot.
If the voters can not read ballot than we really need education reform.