Survey says Florida Dems and NPA voters support open primary elections

Voting sign at Leon County Courthouse. (Photo by Jay Waggmeester/Florida Phoenix)As the Florida Democratic Party continues to consider opening its primary elections to independent voters, a survey backed by proponents finds strong support for the idea.

Florida Open Primaries, an advocacy group working to open Florida’s closed primary voting system, along with the group Open Primaries and its Let Us Vote campaign, says that of the 626 Florida Democrats surveyed, 87% support having the party unilaterally open its primary election to nonparty-affiliated (NPA) voters. Among the 684 NPA voters surveyed, 80% support the proposal.

Florida is a closed primary election state. That means only registered voters from the Republican and Democratic parties can participate in partisan primary elections.  Election observers nationally disagree about how many states are truly “closed” primaries. Ballotpedia says 13 states require closed primaries. The National Conference of State Legislatures puts the number at nine.

Whatever, the survey found that 96% of NPA voters in Florida and 93% of Florida Democratic voters support open primaries.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said earlier this year that she and her staff were collecting information about an open primary to present to party members. The Phoenix reported in July that the proposal was controversial among some Democrats, who feared it would divide a party that hasn’t seen a member of its ranks win a statewide race since 2018.

Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president of Open Primaries, says that the organization conducted the survey of 1,310 Florida voters by itself, without assistance from an outside firm.

The Florida Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.

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