Florida needs this political reform. In 2016, independent voters who wanted to vote in the presidential primaries were presented with two bad options: register with a political party they refused to join or stay home. The Schifino proposal will allow 3.4 million independent voters – 26 percent of all voters in Florida – to cast their ballots in either the Democratic or Republican primary elections without being forced to join a party.
All the CRC [the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission] has to do is put the measure before the voters for approval. I hope they listen to the people and do just that.
I’m a passionate advocate on many policy issues, and sometimes people ask me why I devote time and energy advocating for opening our primary system. For me, being a progressive means advocating for a system that is fair to all voters, including people who disagree with me. That’s the kind of leadership that is so lacking in Congress today. Closed primaries are part of a political culture that allows party insiders to thrive at the expense of the people.
In a poll co-conducted by my organization Progress for All, Florida Fair and Open Primaries, 73 percent of Floridians-including majorities of Republicans and Democrats as well as independents supported putting an open primaries measure before the voters in November 2018.
Demographics in our state and in our country are changing rapidly. Independents are the fastest growing segment of voters in Florida, and some surveys suggest more than 70 percent of millennials are independents. We risk losing an entire generation of voters if we don’t embrace them. Democrats can’t win elections without independent voters. Right now we’re saying to them, “You’re not wanted in the primary process, but join us in the general election.” We simply can’t have it both ways.
Two observations: First, saying “You’re not wanted in the primary process, but join us in the general election,” is what progressives hear, we "party insiders thrive" by offering a candidate of our choice, so vote for her/him, however the deck's been stacked; DC money, or otherwise. Second, readers may remember Canova's unfortunate primary loss to the Mother of All Party Insiders, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
It galled.