Incumbent Casey Willits could have paid an $860 qualifying fee to appear on the ballot for Gainesville’s City Commission election, the same method he used in 2022.
Instead, he chose to qualify by citizen petition, becoming the first person in Gainesville’s history to do so.
Candidates planning to run for city offices in Gainesville must qualify for the election by paying the fee or collecting enough petition signatures prior to the August election day.
“I think this is a little more of a ‘true to the people’ nature of democracy,” Willits said. “The moment I realized I could do it by petition, I knew that’s the route I wanted to take.”
Willits began collecting signatures in December 2025, taking petition forms with him almost everywhere he went: out to dinner, around the neighborhood, to trivia night.
By February, he said, he had gathered the 174 signatures required to qualify for the ballot.
The Alachua County Supervisor of Elections certified the signatures March 19, according to a press release from the Alachua County Labor Coalition.
The citizen petition option became available in 2024; before then, candidates were required to pay a qualifying fee.
According to Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward, the election requirement change was advocated for by citizens.
Willits said he doesn’t plan to return to the fee-based method, and he believes other candidates should follow suit. The 44-year-old part-time UF fiscal assistant first began serving on the commission in 2023. He’s now running against DeJeon Cain for his second term in District 3, which includes much of southwest Gainesville.
“Every single elected official should do it as a commitment to the voters,” Willits said. “It’s really a sign of respect to voters and democracy to go and ask them to put you on the ballot.”
He said the process offers more than symbolic value, giving candidates an opportunity to directly engage with voters and better understand their concerns.
Gainesville residents may see more grassroots campaigns focused on the voters in the future as a result of this citizen petition option, he said.
“Someday, this may be a piece of trivia,” he said. “But for today, I’m immensely proud to be that first candidate.”
Alachua County Labor Coalition coordinator Bobby Mermer said he hopes qualifying by petition becomes standard practice among local candidates.
“It forces them to actually talk to the voters,” he said.
Taking this route rather than paying the fee, which Mermer said would be much easier, is indicative of how a candidate will act while in office, he added.
“You’ll put in the leg work for the campaign. You’ll put in the leg work for governing,” Mermer said.
Not every local candidate is following Willits’ lead, however. Mayor Harvey Ward qualified by citizen petition for the Alachua County Commission in the past, but he decided not to take that route for his mayoral reelection campaign this year.
“Frankly, I just don’t have the hours to do that,” he said.
However, Ward said, qualifying by petition is an effective way to save money while also running a great campaign.
“It’s a really great way to do it,” he said. “It helps you get out and forces you to do face-to-face kind of retail politics, campaigning in a way that I think is very healthy.”
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org. Follow her on X @AlexaRyan_.
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.
