Florida voters interested in casting ballots in next month’s GOP presidential primary election must be registered by the end of the day Tuesday.
Florida’s March 19 primary elections are closed, meaning only registered Republicans can participate. Voters also face a Tuesday deadline to change their political party affiliation, which is the only way a registered Democrat, or somebody who is not affiliated with a political party, can cast a vote for either former President Donald Trump or his GOP rival Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
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"I have heard people say things like the fact that they want to participate, they want to vote, so if that’s what they have to do in order to participate that is what they will do," Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said.
In Broward, almost 100 Republicans have recently switched to the Democrat party. Some 850 Democrats flipped to the GOP.
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"I can't say why people are switching, I don’t know why," Scott said. "I could speculate, but I shouldn't."
Political observers continue to talk about a disconnect between voters and their candidates.
“There is a lot of disinterest, there is general apathy, there is a real concern about the candidates,” said Barry University political science professor Sean Foreman. “Younger people in particular feel that two 80-year-old candidates don’t speak to them, don’t speak to generational issues.”
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Elections officials are also warning of a confusing ballot, with sample ballots listing familiar former GOP candidates like Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Rmasawamy, all whom have dropped out of the race.
Those names are on the ballot because deadlines were missed to take them off.
Scott gives voters the benefit of the doubt.
“Especially with the presidential preference primary, you do get your more sophisticated voters,” he said. “Usually people that are showing up to vote in this election, they kind of have an idea of what is going on, they know who they are showing up to support.”
