North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme has been disqualified from the November ballot after a judge ruled he improperly paid his candidate qualifying fees with cashier's checks instead of checks drawn directly from his campaign account. The ruling landed the same day early voting began in Miami-Dade County, throwing the mayoral race into chaos just as ballots start reaching voters.
Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez issued the disqualification after challenger George Morgan filed an emergency complaint on October 8 alleging Desulme was ineligible to run because of how he paid his fees, according to the Miami Herald. The judge found that the two TD Bank cashier's checks Desulme used on August 10 — one for $4,494 and another for $898.80 — did not qualify as checks drawn on his campaign account, and she invalidated both. Per Le Floridien, neither cashier's check was signed by Desulme's designated campaign treasurer, Emmanuella Fluerimont, but instead bore the signatures of bank representatives.
Florida Statute § 99.061(7)(a)1 requires candidates to pay qualifying fees with a properly executed check drawn directly on their campaign account, with cashier's checks allowed only in narrow circumstances, such as replacing a check that bounced for insufficient funds, according to VoxPopuli. Judge Sanchez considered whether the defect could be overlooked as a minor error but ultimately said it could not be excused under the legal doctrine of substantial compliance.
A Legal Precedent Already in Place
The ruling leans on established case law. Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal set the bright-line standard in February 2024 in *Spiritis v. Botel*, ordering the disqualification of a Riviera Beach council candidate who had also paid her filing fee with a cashier's check, finding that state law strictly requires payment drawn directly from a campaign account, per FindLaw.
North Miami has seen this play out before, and recently. Just six weeks before Desulme's disqualification, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Christopher Green disqualified North Miami City Council candidate Hector Medina in a similar ruling over an unsigned check for personally signing his own qualifying check instead of having his campaign treasurer do it. North Miami's city clerks had initially accepted both Medina's and Desulme's checks before rivals challenged them in court.
Desulme Denies Service, Fights Back in Court
At an October 14 hearing, Desulme's attorney, Benedict Kuehne, entered a limited appearance challenging whether Desulme had properly been served with the lawsuit. Judge Sanchez ruled that service is legally presumed valid and proceeded to hear the underlying election law arguments, though she preserved Kuehne's right to a separate evidentiary hearing on the service question, according to the same Le Floridien account. Desulme has maintained that the checks were in fact drawn from his campaign account and has said he was never served with the complaint.
Desulme's defense also went on the offensive, counter-alleging that Morgan's own election assessment fee was underpaid by 80 cents and drawn from an account that failed to clearly identify his campaign. Desulme argued Morgan lacked clean hands in bringing the challenge, the outlet reported. Kuehne told the Miami Herald that Desulme intends to appeal the ruling.
City Stays Quiet as Morgan Stands to Benefit
The City of North Miami declined to comment directly on the ruling, though city legal counsel said, per the Miami Herald, that the city would generally oppose removing any party from the ballot and prioritizes safeguarding citizens' rights to vote and run for office. Because Morgan is Desulme's sole opponent in the mayoral race, the disqualification effectively hands Morgan the office unless Desulme secures an appellate stay or overturns the ruling. Morgan, a North Miami resident of more than 20 years, has campaigned on property tax reform, economic development and government transparency.
The Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office is expected to post notice of Desulme's disqualification at polling locations, on outgoing vote-by-mail ballots, and on its website. Early voting began across Miami-Dade County the same day the ruling came down, and mail-in ballots have been going out since September. Voters who still want a vote-by-mail ballot must request one by Thursday, October 22.
A Political Career Built Over Two Decades
Desulme's removal from the ballot marks a sharp turn for a politician with deep roots in North Miami. He made history in 2009 as the city's first Black City Clerk, was elected to the City Council representing District 4 in 2015, was elevated to mayor by the council in December 2022, and won a full term outright in a December 2024 runoff with nearly 68% of the vote, according to Florida Politics. In April 2026, he was sworn in as the first Haitian-American mayor elected to the Board of Trustees of the African American Mayors Association, a notable distinction given North Miami's large Haitian-American community.
The qualifying-fee dispute is the latest in a string of legal fights to shake up North Miami's 2026 election cycle, and it follows Hoodline's earlier coverage of federal efforts to strip former Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime's citizenship. Whether Desulme's appeal can reverse the ruling before votes are finalized remains to be seen, but for now, the ballot question in North Miami has a one-name answer.
