Log in Subscribe

Poll: Should Florida Democratic Party Make the Move to Open Primaries?

Posted

Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, has said that the party is considering opening its primaries to Florida’s 3.4 million NPA’s.  This is a stunning reversal from just five years ago, when the party led the charge to prevent open primaries from becoming Florida law.

The nonpartisan group Let Us Vote, which focuses on building support for open primaries, is asking Florida voters to weigh in with a poll asking if they would support  a lobbying effort directed at the Democratic Party of Florida to ask them to do the following:

  • Open their primaries to NPA voters and call on the Republican Party of FL to do the same.
  • Acknowledge they made a mistake in 2020 in opposing open primaries when it was on the ballot.
  • Introduce legislation for a nonpartisan primary system for the state. There are only 11 states with totally closed primaries like Florida.
  • Pledge to stop using the "write-in loophole" that allows them to close primaries with only a write-in candidate when only one party has a candidate on the ballot.

Click here to take the poll. 

Comments

2 comments on this item

Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.

  • Dave

    Closed primaries close the opportunity of significant chunk of voters to have any influence on who their representatives are. I've lived in Manatee for four years and I'm pretty sure no one in county government is independent or a Democrat. I'd love to hear from someone when the last independent or Democrat even made it to a general election.

    Saturday, October 4 Report this

  • rayfusco68

    I believe this would be a very smart move for Manatee County. Currently the the registered voter breakdown percentage in Manatee County is 49.5 Republican, 24.1 Democrat and 26.3 NPA and other. The combined Democrat and NPA and other is 50.4% thus a majority of the registered voters. We all know the Republican party plays shenanigans every election year to close their primary. The Democrats rarely put up a candidate, the NPA and others have no voice in the primaries and we end up with far right developer controlled GOP candidates. Opening the Democratic primary will bring more voter voices into the process to find candidates that truly represent the will of the majority of the people.

    Sunday, October 5 Report this