North Miami mayor asks court to reopen qualification period for Dec. 1 special election

North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme filed a counterclaim asking the court to reopen the qualification period for a special mayoral election on Dec. 1st. The filing comes after Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez ruled on Monday that Desulme wasn’t qualified for the Nov. 3rd election. “Mayor Desulme is in the process of appealing that decision,” Attorney Benedict P. Kuehne, who represents Desulme, wrote, according to the counterclaim. Desulme accused George Morgan, a mayoral candidate, of not paying the qualifying fee in full. Morgan asked the court to disqualify Desulme over the way he paid his qualifying fees, “The payment was made with a bank-certified check drawn from my campaign account rather than my campaign check,” Desulme wrote in a statement in reaction to the ruling. Related story: Judge rules North Miami mayor ‘shall be disqualified as a candidate’Florida election law requires that the fee be paid from a campaign account and signed by the campaign’s treasurer