Clay Young Dems Call For Open Primaries
NPA Voters May Be Crucial To Winning Future Elections
Dylan Beck and the Clay County Young Democrats are on a mission to get more people involved in local elections. There are currently over 28,000 voters in Clay County who are not affiliated with any political party, which leaves them without a say in primaries.
The Florida Democratic Party, via a proposal by party Chair Nikki Fried, is considering opening its primaries to non-party affiliated (NPA) voters, and Beck wants the Clay Democrats to support the idea. The Clay Young Dems have published a document explaining their support of open primaries, where they state:
“We must choose to welcome these voters in, give them a voice in our primary system, and encourage them to help us nominate candidates that can truly speak to them. If on August 25th the Clay County Dems vote to support open primaries, that decision could have statewide implications - potentially leading to the FDP opening the door to millions of voters across the state.”
NPA voters have been growing in numbers, both in Florida and nationwide. Recent polls have estimated as many as 31% of all voters in the United States are not associated with political parties. The majority of these NPA voters believe both major parties are corrupt and do not share their views major issues.
The push for NPA participation in Democratic primaries comes on the heels of recent Republican dominance in Florida. Republican voters outnumber Democrats by large margins in all but a few Florida counties.
Given the voter rolls, Florida Democrats need more people if they hope to compete for elected offices either locally or at the state level. Dylan Beck and the young Dems hope that including NPA voters will lead to more of these voters registering as Democrats. On August 25th, the Clay County Democrat party will decide on whether or not to support the open primary proposal. Beck hopes they do, and relayed to Clay News & Views this quote:
The establishment refuses to do what it takes to win back young and working-class voters. They think with a few tweaks, we can keep offering nothing but pundit-driven, consultant-crafted, hack-friendly lip service, messaging that appeals only to a handful of highly-educated, upper-class elites and insiders. This is wrong, irresponsible, and it doesn't have to be this way. We can fight back, finally bring in a third of working-class people, half of voters under 40, and force our candidates to truly represent our interests or lose the nomination. We have a real chance. I'm not asking for a vote, I'm asking for you to show up, join the fight, and win.
This proposal would only impact Democrats primaries, and would not obligate the Republican or other parties to follow suit.
First thing……the Democrat Party ruled Clay County and virtually all Florida Counties for over a hundred years…..now since the voters have cast them out of power, they need and want to change the rules…..
2nd…..As more and more voters see what the Democrat Party stands for, their only hope is to import uneducated voters from third world countries. As one of the last former elected Democrats in Clay County, I can attest the current Democrat Party is not the same the same Democrat Party my family voted for. They do not even know the differences in a woman and a man.
Quick point of clarification - the point isn't the get independents to register as Democrats, the point is to allow independents to vote in Democratic primaries so that our candidates better represent them and their needs.