We need the independent voters to win in November

As it has been noted during the past several years, in Florida, the number of registered Democrats has been declining to the point where there are now more registered Republicans than Democrats.

Since 2020, Democrats have lost over 350,000 voters, while Republicans lost about 80,000.  As of May 2022, there were 5.14 registered Republicans and 4.96 registered Democrats. 

However, one key number to examine, No Party Affiliate registration, rose from 3.8 to 3.87 million.

In order to win, statistically speaking, our Democratic candidates need to get a majority of Independent voters to vote for them.

The first step is to find who the Independent voters are, in our neighborhood and community.

It is not difficult to do:

·       Go to voterrecords.com,  then follow the step to search by state : Florida.

·       Then at the top left of the screen click on address search.

·       On the next page, type in any address in your neighborhood, and up will pop up the names of all registered voters and their affiliated or non-affiliated parties. 

·       Finally, then go talk to one of your neighbors who is registered as an Independent, and find common ground on an issue.

There are Democratic candidates for the county, state house, governor, U.S. senator, Commissioner of Agriculture and state CFO.

When meeting with Independents, discuss local issues that impact your community.  Or look at some of the particularly egregious bills that the Florida legislature and the governor have enacted.  How about the recent Supreme Court decisions?

The key is to find the issues that your Independent neighbor is interested in, that you can agree upon, then talk to them about the Democratic candidate that supports that issue.  Some suggested topics:

Locally:

·       Trash pickup? Taxes?  Cost of Housing?

Statewide: 

·       Don’t say Gay bill?  Banning books?  Punishing Disney? Stop Woke Act bill?

Nationally:

·       Roe v Wade, Jan 6 insurrection

·       Rubio and Mast both voted against the recently passed modest gun safety law.

·       Rubio’s proposed New Parents Act which offers three-month parental leave, but requires beneficiaries to repay that by giving up Social Security benefits

When you find common ground on an issue, point the Independent voter to the Democratic candidate who supports their view.  Then encourage them to support that candidate, maybe suggest they put a sign in their yard? 

But most importantly remind them to vote in November!

Bob Villa, Democratic Club of St Lucie At-Large Board Member