"I prefer to just get what’s mine and go away."
The estranged aunt of Florida House candidate Joe Saunders can stay on the ballot after she filed to run against him under the nickname “Moe Saunders,” but she has agreed to go by a less similar name — Mo Saunders Scott — after a daylong court hearing Thursday.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert Watson blocked an effort by Joe Saunders’ campaign to have Scott removed from the ballot entirely, saying he doesn’t believe Scott is running “a sham campaign.”
The evidence showed that Saunders’ aunt, whose legal name is Maureen Saunders Scott, sometimes goes by “Mo,” and more often spells it without an “e.” Watson seemed prepared to let her remain on the ballot as “Mo Saunders.”
But in a last-minute twist, the judge allowed Saunders’ attorneys to confer with Scott about what name she would be comfortable using on the ballot.
Scott, who did not have legal representation, agreed to use “Mo Saunders Scott,” a name that appears less likely to confuse voters as Saunders, a Democrat, seeks to unseat incumbent Republican Fabian Basabe.
Read more at the Miami Herald