By D. L. Norris
On August 18, 2020, Okaloosa County held a primary. The county has 142,666 registered voters but only 43,169 ballots were cast, resulting in a very low, 30.26%, voter turnout.
In the Board of County Commissioner (BOCC) race, eight candidates were vying for the various seats. All with varying levels of campaign contributions. Three candidates clearly were the Republican Party chosen candidates backed by the standard Republican Party donors. The other five candidates found financing from other donors outside of the Republican Party coffers or self funded.
With the majority of BOCC seats up for reelection, why would there be such a low voter turnout? The BOCC is the decision making governmental body within the county. If you are a resident frustrated with over crowded roads, over crowded schools and failing infrastructure, then this is the time when you can affect change and yet, only 30.26% turned out to vote. Why?
Maybe a football analogy can help explain. If any of the five outside-the-party candidates showed up at their favorite football team’s field and said I’d like to play, they would be told to go pound sand because its the team’s field and they choose who plays and who doesn’t. The football teams are private entities and they can do that. These five candidates aren’t pro football caliber players so they would be sent packing.
In the U.S. two party political system, it is a pro-level public arena and the two teams that own the playing fields are the Republican Party and the Democrat Party. Political parties are public associations and subject to regulation; therefore, when outside candidates show up to play in their arenas, the political parties have to let them play. But, the political parties don’t really want these outside candidates (walk-ons) playing. The parties pick their own candidates just like the pro football teams do so they have to rig the system to ensure only their pro-level candidate gets elected.
The first thing they do is tell the outside candidates to pay $4,000 and they can play, hoping that this fee will be a disincentive for them and that they will just walk away. But many candidates, such as those that participated on August 18th, feel very strongly and passionately about wanting to serve. They pay the $4,000 and jump into a very professional political arena as amateurs.
The political party then welcomes the outside candidates onto the playing field with open arms because they now lend legitimacy to the illusion that we are a republic of the people, by the people, for the people. When the reality is the political parties choose their candidates to compete in their arena known as the primary–it is totalitarian.
The second way the political parties rig the primary to ensure their candidate wins is by funneling all party money to one candidate. They do not share any of the wealth. All other walk-on players (candidates) in the arena will have to find their own funding. The large sums of money, $50,000 to $120,000, the political party gives to their chosen candidate, for each commissioner seat, allows that candidate to pay for professional branding and advertising of the brand. Usually, all the branding and advertising is done by the party operatives and the candidates don’t have to lift a finger.
As consumers we all know that branding works. We are bombarded with advertising constantly throughout the day and we pick and choose products based on their packaging. The same is true of the political party candidates. The three primary candidates backed by the Republican Party and its money: Ponder, Mixon, Boyles, all presented as first class branded products and were provided coaching just like a pro football player would be.
The third thing the political party does to rig the game is to call it a primary instead of an election. Most Americans are low information voters. They know to show up for an election in November but they don’t know to show up for a primary in August. Because the political party has to allow the amateurs to play in their arena with their chosen candidates, they have to keep the voter turn out low to minimize the risk of an amateur actually winning. They do this by using the term “primary,” knowing that low information voters are only going to key into the word “election.” So, most voters won’t even know it’s time to vote. This is backed up by historical data showing that the primary elections in Okaloosa County only draw in 25% to 30% of the registered voters and validated again in this 2020 primary with a very low 30% voter turn out.
The fourth thing the political party does is create a guaranteed voter pool of about 20,000 voters loyal to the Republican Party candidate, regardless of who the candidate is. This pool of guaranteed votes is sourced from all of the businesses, industry entities, chambers of commerce, law firms, professional boards, and anyone else who need to keep the wheels of government greased so they can maximize profit in their private businesses. These folks are wired to vote in the primary and always for the political party chosen candidate and that is why they give their donations of money to the political parties. Party donors make up the majority of the 30% voter turn out in the primary and the political party chosen candidates know they have a guaranteed majority of voters in the primary based on donors.
Every outside candidate for BOCC in the Okaloosa County August 18, 2020 primary, lost: Harris, Johnson, Destin, Walker and Roehrig, as was expected by the Republican Party. Destin is the only candidate who came close to beating the chosen Republican Party candidate. He had about $70,000 in donor funds from outside the Republican Party donors. He competed at a professional level with branding and marketing and he still lost by about 149 votes. So, it didn’t matter who the candidate was or how much they spent, they were going to lose because the system is built that way.
Now, there is one option that an outside candidate can try and that is to register as a non party affiliate (NPA) or independent (I). For the BOCC District 5 seat, one candidate has done this, Wes Fell. This moves the playing field from the primary to the general election where a much larger pool of voters will show up–likely an additional 100,000. Think about it, if you are going to launch a new product brand, would you want to do it with and audience of 43,169 people or 142,666?
Perhaps a larger pool of voters would have gone for Destin or any of the other outside candidates had they entered as NPA or I. Those 100,000 voters are blue collar hourly wage earners. They are outside the donor class of voters and a lot more of them show up in the general election which typically has a 75% total turn out. Perhaps it’s not that they don’t know to vote in a primary as stated earlier. Perhaps it’s more likely they are smart enough to realize the primary system is rigged, and experience has taught them, that every time they vote for a candidate of their choice in a primary, that candidate has lost. So, they have stopped being a willing participant in the illusion of a choice and now they only vote in the general election.
The results of the August 18, 2020 vote means a minority of voters, 30%, chose who was going to lead the county for the next four years. Minority rule is always oppressive.
Sadly, because it would take Trumpian efforts to beat this system as an outsider, the newly elected commissioners will serve for as long as they wish. Many, likely will still be in their seats 20 years from now.
You can contact the author at dlnorris@theparadisepatriot.com