By D. L. Norris
In August of this year, Santa Rosa County (SRC) will hold a primary to select representatives for each political party (PP) to compete in the November general election. Historically, in Florida, primaries result in low voter turnout.
This year, two Board of County Commissioner (BOCC) seats are up for re-election. 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; however, that change likely will not happen. Why?
Let’s say you decide to put up your own money and run for local office. You would be an “outside-the-party” candidate (OPC). Competing with you will be Republican (or Democrat) Party (RP/DP) chosen candidates backed by the standard RP/DP donors.
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 RP and the DP. PPs are public associations and subject to regulation; therefore, when OPCs, like yourself, show up to play in their arenas, the PPs have to let you play. However, the PPs don’t really want you OPCs (walk-ons) playing. The PPs pick their own candidates just like the pro sports teams do so they have to rig the system to ensure only their pro-level candidate gets elected.
The first thing the PPs do is tell you OPCs to pay $4,000 and you can play, hoping that this fee will be a disincentive and you walk away; however, many candidates feel passionately about wanting to serve so they pay the $4,000 and jump into a very professional political arena as amateurs. The PP then welcomes the OPCs onto the playing field with open arms because they now lend legitimacy to the illusion of a choice.
The second way the PPs rig the system is by funneling all party money to one candidate (sometimes two if they want to stack the deck). They do not share any of the party wealth. All walk-on players (candidates) in the arena will have to find their own funding. The large sums of money the PP gives to their chosen candidate(s) allows them to pay for professional branding, coaching and advertising of the brand— the candidates don’t have to lift a finger.
The third thing the PP does to rig the system is to call it a primary instead of an election. Most Americans don’t know to show up for a primary in August. This keeps the voter turnout low to minimize the risk of an amateur actually winning. This was validated in the SRC 2020 primary with a very low 25.82% voter turnout. At the local level, with one dominant PP, the primary will determine who fills the commissioner seats, not the general election.
The fourth thing the PP does is create a guaranteed voter pool of about 15,000 voters loyal to the party candidate, regardless of who the candidate is. This pool is sourced from all of the 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 enterprises. These folks are wired to vote in the primary for the PP chosen candidate and that is why they give their donations of money to the PPs.
Now there is one option that an OPC can try and that is to register as a non-party affiliate (NPA) or independent (I). 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 an audience of 36,151 people (SRC 2020 primary voter turnout) or 139,987 (SRC 2020 general election voter turnout)?
In the 2020 primary in SRC, the result was a minority of voters, 25.82%, 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 currently seated 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