Should Florida make the move to “Jungle Primaries”?
Bottom Line: Florida is one of 28 states that calls for a partisan voter registration which generally dictates the elections/races you’re able to vote in during primaries. This is to say that most states do currently have a system similar to what we do in Florida.
As you’re likely (hopefully) aware of, in Florida, you’re only able to vote in primaries for the party you’re registered to vote in. While this generally isn’t a concern for most Democrats and Republicans, it is for many NPA’s, Florida’s fastest growing voting bloc. Current voter registration in Florida looks like this:
- DEM: 37%
- GOP: 35%
- Minor Party: >1%
- NPA: 27%
So currently more than one in four Floridians is generally locked out of the partisan party process. Enter a proposal that’s gaining traction due to the All Voters Vote committee. They’re pushing for a constitutional amendment that’d be placed on our 2020 ballots calling for “jungle primaries”.
In these primary systems all candidates, regardless of party, are placed on the primary ballot. Any eligible voter is able to vote for any candidate they’d prefer to vote for in the primary regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election. The most notable state that uses this system is California. There are plenty of arguments that can be made for and against. I’ll use my dad for example. Prior to retirement he was a registered NPA. Not because he really wasn’t partisan, but he remained independent for professional purposes. He’s far from alone in that regard. Conversely, we live in a day and age in which there are various interest groups and campaigns have attempted to meddle in elections by voting for candidates and encouraging others to vote for candidates that think would be easiest for their preferred candidate to beat in a general election. Moving to an open primary or all of the way into a “jungle primary” opens the door to those types of manipulation. So, what do you think? That’s what will end up mattering here...