Millions of Floridians Blocked from Voting

Florida Legislators are working to prevent millions of Floridians from voting. They’re doing well at it, because they’ve done it before.

Thirty-five people have filed papers to become write-in candidates in Florida’s legislative primaries, The Tampa Bay Times reported. The plan is to invoke an obscure by-line from a 1998 amendment. The amendment states that the primaries are “supposed to be open to all voters if there are only candidates from one party running for the seat,” NBC Miami reported.

Florida State Capital Building

With these so-called ‘phantom candidates’ filling the ballot, all independents and voters registered to another party are ineligible to vote within party primaries. This under-handed technique has been used in the past, and the supervisor of elections in Seminole County told The Tampa Bay Times that this “causes people to distrust the process.”

“It’s gamesmanship. It’s been going on for years, and has to change.”

Voting- something many will be denied.

The Miami Herald took aim at phantom candidate James Bailey, stating that “he will deprive thousands of residents from voting for their state legislator.” Like many of these phantom candidates, the write-in lives hours from the seat he has applied for. “He’s not campaigning or raising money… he won’t answer phone calls and emails,” the Herald continued. While Bailey was once a Republican firm worker, there are reports that phantom candidates are appearing from both parties.

One of the Republican write-in candidates clarified that nobody asked him to put his name in. He told the Tampa Bay Times, “the system is set up that Republicans can elect Republicans and Democrats can elect Democrats. I don’t want someone playing both sides of the fence.”

The Florida Senate

Regardless of how many voters are disenfranchised by this tactic, there is little change that can happen in this election cycle other than voting the perpetrators out of office. Dave Aronberg, an ex-Democratic state senator who attempted to close the loophole, told the Times, “People don’t know about it until they are disenfranchised. It really is the most insidious election scam that’s commonly exploited by our politicians.”