Ocala Star-Banner
By Austin L. Miller
August 6, 2025
A man who tried to run for mayor in the upcoming city of Ocala election but was denied because of a residency issue and because officials said he failed to get enough valid petition signatures has filed a federal lawsuit against Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox.
Neil Joseph Gillespie, representing himself in this civil action, filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Gillespie, 69, seeks $1 million in damages plus legal fees, costs and "other relief this Court deems necessary in the interest of justice."
Contacted by a Star-Banner reporter, Wilcox declined comment, saying he wants to wait until he has completely read the paperwork.
In July, Gillespie was among the candidates seeking to run in the city's Sept. 16 election. Candidates submitted their paperwork during the qualifying period, which ran July 7-11.
At the conclusion of the qualifying period, elections officials said no candidate had fulfilled all the requirements to qualify for a ballot spot.
A new qualifying period was set for July 16-18. This time, only Gillespie failed to qualify for a ballot spot. The reasons: a residency issue and he did not have enough valid petition signatures.
Petition signatures
Gillespie submitted 41 signatures for review, but only 12 were accepted.
The reasons for rejection: one petition signature was illegible; one petition had a bad signature; 18 signers were deemed "wrong district," meaning they did not live within the city limits; and nine were misfiled/not registered. Elections officials said they could not find those persons as registered voters.
Only those living within the Ocala city limits can vote in the election.
The Supervisor of Elections Office website shows that of the 255,521 eligible Marion County voters, 33,232 are Ocala residents.
To qualify for a ballot spot, candidates had to get 25 valid petition signatures and pay a fee: $66 for mayor and $24 for city council. The fee is equivalent to 1 percent of the salary.
The mayor serves a two-year term with a salary of $550 per month. Council members serve four-year terms and are paid $200 per month. All races are nonpartisan.
In his lawsuit, Gillespie said the number of valid petition signatures should not matter. His reading of Florida law says the petition requirement is unconstitutional; all that matters is that he paid the filing fee.
Residency
But signatures were not Gillespie's only problem.
But signatures were not Gillespie's only problem.
In his lawsuit, Gillespie said he is registered to vote in Marion County, but not in a way that allows him to run for mayor.
Gillespie has lived in Marion County for 20 years. He said he was evicted at gunpoint after a foreclosure in May 2022. He said he was homeless from May 2022 to January 2023, when he rented a place in the Starting Gate Executive Office complex off State Road 200. Gillespie said the suite is home to Justice Network, described as a group "engaged in advocacy, education, news gathering and dissemination, and helping people fight injustice."
Gillespie said he relies on Social Security and is unable to obtain other adequate housing.
The complaint states that although Gillespie is registered to vote, Wilcox "has repeatedly refused to register" him at that address, since the U.S. Post Office does not recognize it as a residential address.
For voter registration purposes, Gillespie's address is simply listed as the elections office address. Thus, Gillespie cannot participate in city of Ocala elections or qualify for a ballot spot in a city election.
Gillespie said he filed a complaint with the Florida Department of State/Division of Elections in late July alleging Wilcox "has willfully refused or willfully neglected to perform his duty to register Gillespie to vote in the City of Ocala, Florida, in violation of Fla. Stat. s. 104.51."
He said the department has not responded to, or acknowledged, his complaint.
In the lawsuit, Gillespie said he dropped off a voter registration application to Wilcox on Aug. 1 and he received an email response on Aug. 4. Gillespie said his voter registration online record shows his voting address as the elections center.
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