SARASOTA – A proposed ballot to the Florida constitution looks to change the way Floridians cast their votes, and opens the flood gates to what some call a voting nightmare.
“Here in America we have the right to assemble to affiliate with like minded people.” said Senator Joe Gruters.
In Florida the current voting system allows for political parties to close their primary elections to registered party voters. Meaning state legislators, the governor and lieutenant governor are voted in to office by constituents belonging to their political party.
Ballot Amendment 3 proposes establishing a top-two open primary system for primary elections. That means all candidates would be placed on one ballot regardless of political affiliation. And the top two candidates with the most votes would advance to the general election.
Sen. Gruters says the amendment would take away representation from voters. Destroying Florida’s diverse political environment.
“It’s a complete free-for-all and you know it’s bad when the Republican Party of Florida, the Democrat Party of Florida, The League of Women Voters, I believe the ACLU, the Black Caucus… everybody is against this,” said Sen. Gruters.
But leading campaign in support, All Voters Vote says otherwise. According to their website “The vast majority of races in Florida are decided in the closed party primaries—which excludes most voters….” and “By giving all voters a chance to vote, politicians will become answerable to the majority of voters, not just a select few.”
Democratic House candidate for District 70 Michele Rayner says amendment three goes beyond removing representation for party voters but eliminates representation for minority groups.
“One of the things is that it’s called All Voters Vote and I believe that is really a misnomer and misleading,” said Rayner. “Because what it has a possibility of doing is ensuring that there’s no minority representation within state elected office condition.”
All Voters Vote claim on their website “Top two primary elections empower ALL voters…within a partisan political system, black and Latino voters are often either taken for granted or ignored.”
But what is certain about Amendment 3 is that if passed the landscape of Florida voting system will be different than we’ve seen in any of our past elections.