Miami, FL – March 28, 2017 – Today Open Primaries, a national leader on election reform, Progress for All, a grassroots political and community action group, and Florida Fair and Open Primaries, a grassroots organization dedicated to enacting open primaries in Florida, released the results of a statewide survey of Florida voters that finds overwhelming discontent with the state’s political environment. It identifies broad support for reforming the state’s primary elections.
92% of Florida voters want their elected officials to put the interests of Florida voters ahead of the interests of their own political party. 93% of Florida voters want their elected leaders to bring opposing interests together to create good policies for the state and 87% of voters support electoral changes that expand democracy in Florida. 74% of Floridians want independent voters—27% of the Florida electorate—included in primary elections and 73% of Floridians-including supermajorities of Republican, Democrat and independent voters-want the Constitution Revision Commission, which begins public hearings tomorrow, to put an open primaries initiative before the voters.
Additional findings include:
- 70% of Florida voters, and a full 74% of Florida’s Latino community, favor a top-two open primary where all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation, and all voters are able to vote for any candidate, with the top two candidates moving on to the general election.
- 73% of voters believe taxpayer funded primaries should be open to all voters. (The parties have asserted that as private associations, they should determine who can and cannot participate in primary elections. However, primary elections are paid for by Florida taxpayers and administered by state and local election agencies.)
- 72% of Florida voters support a ballot initiative to restore voting rights to individuals who have completed their sentences for nonviolent criminal offenses.
The survey comes in the wake of the 2016 Presidential Primaries, which drew claims of a “rigged” process and saw 26 million independent voters across the country, including 3.5 million Floridians, locked out of the first round of elections. Florida voters paid over $13 million dollars in 2016 alone for closed, partisan primaries, according to a recent analyses.
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Open Primaries, Progress for All and Florida Fair and Open Primaries surveyed 735 registered Florida voters-Republicans, Democrats and independents- from March 12-14. The survey was conducted by Public Policy Polling. The full survey can be found on the Open Primaries website at: http://www.openprimaries.org/florida_poll.
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