Ignore last-minute theatrics. Amendment 3's open primaries are just what Florida needs | Editorial
Just three weeks before election day, Florida politicians on both sides of the aisle filed a last-minute lawsuit Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to strike one of six constitutional amendments from the November ballot. Justices should see this stunt for what it is: an act of desperation by those who thrive under Florida’s closed primary election system.
Both Republican and Democratic politicians hate Amendment 3. That should say something to those in the middle, especially the nearly one-third of Florida voters registered as NPA, with no party affiliation. The two parties don’t want you deciding November’s two main nominees.
Amendment 3 would eliminate closed party primaries, which limit Republicans to voting only for Republican nominees and Democrats only for Democrats. Instead, Florida would adopt an open primary in which all registered voters can vote, and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would advance to the general election.
The change would only affect races for governor, the three Cabinet offices and seats in the Legislature, starting in 2024.
Open primaries would end the stranglehold the two increasingly out-of-touch parties — financed by narrowly self-centered interests — hold on the nominating system.
Open primaries also would block one party from cynically gaming the system, as the Republicans did in 2018 by bankrolling an independent Black candidate in a Gainesville-area state Senate race. Charles Goston siphoned votes from Kayser Enneking, a capable Democrat who should have won but lost to Republican Keith Perry.
And where the political map is all red or all blue, open primaries would allow all voters to be heard where it really matters — in the primary.
Besides, all taxpayers pay to hold the primaries. If the parties want to keep them closed, let the parties pay for them.
The Supreme Court ruled in March that the Amendment 3 question passed legal muster and should go before voters, rejecting arguments by both political parties and Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody.
But in the past few weeks, the Florida Legislative Black Caucus and its allies have intensified their criticism. They say Amendment 3 would result in fewer minority candidates winning office because larger open primary electorates would be whiter. They note that the Florida Constitution requires legislative districts to be compact and equal in population, and that federal and state laws require that racial minorities be able to elect the candidates of their choice.
Their effort, People Over Profits, is led by Sean Shaw, a former state legislator from Tampa who had our enthusiastic support as the Democratic nominee for state attorney general in 2018. Unfortunately, the nonprofit group’s financial supporters remain secret.
The group cites a study that says decades of hard-earned black political advancement in Florida would be wiped out by Amendment 3. The study by data expert Matthew Isbell is cited in the suit, which calls Amendment 3 “constitutionally defective.” The Supreme Court has set an Oct. 23 deadline for written arguments.
“No one knows what elections would look like under this new system,” said Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, the Republicans' speaker-designate in the Florida House, defending the lawsuit on a call with reporters.
Joining Sprowls in the Republican Party-backed lawsuit was Sen. Janet Cruz, a Tampa Democrat, and the lawyers who filed the suit, including Anne Corcoran, wife of state education commissioner Richard Corcoran, a former House speaker.
Don’t you find it curious that Republicans are suddenly frantic that Black Democrats could lose seats?
Let’s recall that Barack Obama won Florida twice — in 2008 and 2012. And two years ago, with 8.1 million votes cast statewide, Andrew Gillum came within 33,000 votes of winning the governor’s mansion.
So the fears seem exaggerated. They also overlook the fact that more than 1 million of the 3.5 million disenfranchised independent voters in the state are Black or Hispanic. Opponents also assume that white voters would never vote for Black candidates, which is not true.
The hope of Amendment 3 is that open primaries would produce more centrist candidates and fewer candidates who kowtow to the extreme fringes of their parties. The largest supporter of the effort, All Voters Vote, is Mike Fernandez, a billionaire Coral Gables health care executive who broke with the Republican Party over immigration.
Amendment 3 may not create a perfect system, but the status quo is a lot worse. Party primaries, especially for state legislative seats, tend to produce ideologically rigid partisans who put the wants of moneyed interests ahead of the needs of everyday people back home.
Too few legislative races are competitive. That’s because party-backed incumbents are bankrolled by party-dominated interest groups and their affiliated political committees.
Anybody who challenges business as usual in Tallahassee has one outlet, the ballot, by way of the citizens' initiative. However, power brokers are making that route increasingly difficult. They’re now pushing passage of Amendment 4, which would require that an amendment must pass twice before it takes effect.
Amendment 4 would deal a blow to the power of the people. But Amendment 3 is just what Florida needs.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.
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