Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Independents Outnumber Democrats in Twelve Florida Counties: MIAMI HERALD

The defiant dozen: Martin is 12th county with NPA voter surge
Martin County on Florida's Treasure Coast has become the 12th Florida county to see the growing surge of unaffiliated voters who are rejecting both major political parties.

The combined total of NPA and minor party voters has edged past Democrats in Martin, according to Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis' web site. Martin and many other counties have special events planned Tuesday in recognition of National Voter Registration Day.

Democrats in Florida are also outnumbered by "others" in Clay, Collier, Lee, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and St. Johns counties. Republicans are in effect a third party in Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola and Palm Beach. The big three South Florida counties combined account for about one-fourth of all voters in the state.

As the no-party affiliation trend escalates across the state, four more medium-sized counties will soon see Democrats slip to third place: Charlotte, Flagler, Indian River and Monroe. In Florida, NPA voters are not allowed to vote in party primary elections.

Total voter registration in Florida reached 12 million in August, and no-party and minor party voters account for 27 percent of all voters in the state (NPAs are 24 percent and minor party voters are 3 percent). Statewide, Democrats account for 38 percent of voters and Republicans 35 percent. The number of unaffiliated voters has grown by about 1 million statewide since Barack Obama took office in 2009 and will approach 30 percent of the electorate by the time of the 2016 presidential election.

Posted by Steve Bousquet on Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2015 at 10:24 AM

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