Apopka’s Code of Ordinances mandates that candidates can’t start putting out signs until after they’ve qualified for the ballot — either by paying a fee of $4,948.81 or collecting 1,046 signatures. 

Qualifying for the Aug. 18 elections, including the Orange County Commission races, will take place June 8 to 12. 

What this means is that the earliest Oliver could have lawfully put up campaign signs in Ocoee was May 21. The earliest signs can go up in Apopka is June 13. 

Signs were spotted in both cities as early as May 7. 

Oliver told Vox Populi that he was aware of the mistakes, but said that his campaign team “immediately” dealt with the issue.

“I believe there was a little confusion at the beginning,” he said, referring to the Apopka ordinance. “But we definitely try to correct that. Especially with the ones in the right-of-way. So I’m communicating with the field manager, saying, If this is in the right-of-way, you need to move it back, beyond the right-of-way and the property edges.

“The biggest issue with Apopka was there was one sign on city property. So I have to be totally responsible for this myself. Let’s see what the ordinance says and let’s make all the adjustments now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Make the adjustments now.” 

Aubrey Jewett, PhD, political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said rules like these are in place to keep the playing field level … and uncluttered. 

“They don’t want land, especially the right-of-ways and public land, to become an eyesore of signs 365 days a year,” he said in a phone interview. 

“There’s a little bit of a fairness factor if all the other candidates are following the rules, potentially that might give the one that broke the rules a hint of an advantage in name recognition," he added.

Even so, Jewett said these kinds of violations, fairly common in local elections, aren’t make or break for a candidate, especially if errors are caught quickly and resolved. 

Oliver is currently the frontrunner to succeed former County Commissioner Christine Moore, who resigned her District 2 seat to run unsuccessfully in April for Apopka mayor. With nearly $55,000 in fundraising, Oliver has raised nearly four times what his opponents have. 

This is not Oliver’s first brush with election controversy. Running for Ocoee mayor in 2022, he solicited donations in a video recorded in the commission chambers inside city hall. Last year, he falsely claimed that three city charter amendments on the ballot were part of Project 2025 as he campaigned for re-election to the Ocoee City Commission. He later retracted his statement. 

Norine Dworkin contributed reporting.