No party? No more as (Florida) voters shift toward Democratic Party

[teach1st]

No party? No more as voters shift toward Democratic Party
Tampa Bay Times, 10/8/2018

Colleen Branam of St. Petersburg was one of the 3.5 million voters in Florida with an independent streak. She was registered with no party affiliation, the fastest-growing segment of Florida's electorate in recent years.

But when Branam realized that independents can't vote in Florida's closed primaries and her voice would be limited to November, she became a Democrat.

Asked why, the 60-year-old grandmother and former hospital secretary didn't mince words. "I can't stand Trump," she said.

Tens of thousands of Florida voters have made the same change in recent months. What effect these party-switchers will have on the outcome will depend largely on turnout on Nov. 6, four weeks from Tuesday.

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[manor321]

1. This is why all primaries should be closed

You want to have a say in our party? Do something very simple and register with the party.

[DinahMoeHum]

2. +1000s

[Fla Dem]

4. Yep, don't want some Joe Smoe, with no party affiliation helping to decide the nominee for my party.

[marylandblue]

5. I don't even know why the government is involved in primaries at all

They are really internal party matters. They should be entirely run and paid for by parties. Having the government run them blurs the distinction between a political party and the government.

[unc70]

6. Gov usually pays for state primaries

It varies a lot by state, but when primaries are publicly funded and supervised then states get to set the rules.

[marylandblue]

7. Yes, I understand, but that's what I am objecting to.

[David__77]

9. Parties could instead run their own caucuses/primaries.

I tend to agree with you. I think perhaps parties should determine their own means to select how candidates get the party endorsement - whether through a vote of a committee or a party-run caucus/primary. Then that candidate will have become the "party candidate."

[mwooldri]

17. Hear, Hear!

That's how it tends to be in the rest of the world. When I was a paid up member of the Liberal Democrats I got to vote on who would be the party representative for my local constituency in the 1997 UK General Election. Non paying members didn't get a say as to who the candidate would be. However mind it is far easier to become a candidate in a UK general election than it is to be a US House Congresscritter.

[scarletwoman]

11. In Minnesota, we don't register by party. You simply register to vote, period.

The only time you have to make a distinction is for voting in the Primary. Then you have to vote for a single party's candidates - but the ballots are designed with one party's candidates listed down one side, and the other party's candidates listed down the other side.

So even when you pick up a ballot, no one knows which party you'll be voting for, that only happens in the privacy of the voting booth. The restriction is that you can only vote for the candidates on one side or the other - no mixing.

If a ballot has votes on both sides, it's thrown out as invalid. And we use only paper ballots, btw.

[Gore1FL]

15. We don't declare in MO, either

When you show up to the polls you ask for the party ballot you want.

[oberliner]

3. Florida Southern College poll: 'Narrow lead' for Andrew Gillum

A new poll shows “a narrow lead” for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum over his Republican counterpart, Ron DeSantis.

But the poll, by the Florida Southern College Center for Polling and Policy Research, has a roughly 4½-point margin of error, and Gillum’s lead is just over 3 points.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/276887-florida-southern-college-poll-narrow-lead-for-andrew-gillum

[lpbk2713]

8. Outstanding.

And a special thank you to our newly registered Puerto Rican friends.

[Honeycombe8]

13. +1. nt

[OnDoutside]

10. My brother doesn't affiliate with a party (he will be voting Dem though) in Florida. IIRC, he's

pissed off that in Florida so much of his info is publicly available, including party affiliation.

[appalachiablue]

12. Terrific, keep it coming! 'I CAN'T STAND TRUMP: VOTE"

[Honeycombe8]

14. The independent vote is very important.

I'm hoping they decide to join the Blue Wave. I read somewhere that they are...not in FL, just generally.

[7962]

18. The Independent voters are who decides elections.

getting them OUT to vote is 1/2 the battle.

[JI7]

19. not all of them. most of them are partisan and will vote the same party regularly

those who are really independent and could go either way are smaller.

[Honeycombe8]

20. Hmmm. I wonder which party they vote mainly. I'm guessing Republican.

But I'm also guessing the Republican voting independents are libertarians, and the rest of the independents are moderates, or have one foot in each party. Like economically conservative but socially liberal, and on both counts are moderate about those things. In other words, they don't feel they totally belong to either party.

[JI7]

21. they can go either way

kerry, obama 2008, romney 2012 all won them. so you can see they winning them doesn't always mean winning the election either.

[Scurrilous]

16. K&R