How Amendment 3 would impact Florida elections if it passes

If Amendment 3 passes in the general election next month, it will change the way Florida holds its primary elections.

Florida’s primary election for state legislators would change from a closed election to a top-two open primary.

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Currently, primaries are closed. This means a voter must be registered with a political party in order to participate in that party’s primary election. After that, winners of the partisan primary elections advance to the general election.

“If all the candidates were lumped into one primary race, the top two vote-getters would have been Gov. Ron DeSantis and then Adam Putnam, so there would not have been a Democrat that would have gone to general election,” State Rep. Bruce Antone said.

READ: 9 things to know if you plan to vote by mail in Florida

According to the Florida Department of State Division of Elections, there are more than 14 million registered voters in the state. Out of that number, more than 3 million are non-party affiliated.

“So say in a district like mine, again it becomes much more expensive instead of me just trying to sell myself to Democrats, now I’ve got to sell myself to Democrats and people with no party affiliation,” Antone said.

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