A loophole in Florida’s “universal primary” law is getting a lot of use this election year, according to a report by the Tampa Bay times.
The newspaper counted 20 legislative primaries that drew exclusively Republican or Democratic candidates. Those primaries would have been open to all registered voters under a 1998 “universal primary” constitutional amendment.
But then shadowy write-in candidates appeared on the ballot, and the primaries were closed. Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho says write-ins are a giant loophole amendment authors missed.
“And the way they wrote the amendment, the universal primary only works if there’s no opposition in the fall. Well, by definitions, if write-ins go to the fall, that’s opposition.”
Most write-in candidates shy away from interviews. But Chris Schwantz of Niceville says he qualified as a write-in because he felt primaries should be closed. His race drew four Republicans.
“If the Democrats wanted to have a candidate, they could have put a Democrat in. The Republicans can vote for the Republicans and in the general election, everybody gets a chance at that point.”
Schwantz says nobody urged him to close the primary. And it probably makes little difference that he’s not raising money or campaigning. A write-in candidate has never won a legislative seat.
