The Absence of Democracy

Qualification deadlines in Florida tend to incite in me a temporary depression. Potential and hope for a resurgence is often dashed that day. Particularly upsetting to me this year was the failure of Bud Chiles to do the right thing and run as a Democrat. But the biggest problem for me each year is the scant number of Democrats willing to run at all. Nowhere is that more apparent each cycle than in the races for state House seats each year.

Check out the slate. When you look closely, you realize that in 35 of the 120 state House seats, there is no Democrat in the race. Of those, eight are for open seats.

In the arena of personal disgust, I must note the district where I live, District 74, Republican Rep. Gary Aubuchon is running unopposed in a district where he has never had to stand up for election one time. Aubuchon was selected by Republican Party officials in 2006 to take this seat after Charlie Crist chose former Rep. Jeff Kottkamp as his running mate in the governor's race. Since then, Aubuchon has skated through unopposed, without ever having to print a single campaign sign.

We will never take control of the House is we refuse to even compete in nearly a third of the races for state House seats, but there is more at stake than that. By not fielding candidates to run for office, the Democratic Party of Florida is not only denying progressives in Florida the opportunity to govern, but every voter the chance to even make a choice regarding who should manage the Sunshine State.

Thanks to a write-in candidate loophole, discussed with precision by Norwood last week, many voters are also being disenfranchised. In 10 races, a state Representative will effectively be selected in the Republican or Democratic primary, and anyone registered as an independent or with another party will be denied the right to vote. This is a loophole just as abused by Democrats as Republicans, and half of these write-in candidates are closing primaries in seats the Democrats will hold.

But at least voters within the majority party get a vote in those races. In 31 different races, a candidate is either running unopposed or only has write-in opposition. In many more, only one major-party candidate is running, and facing a third-party or nonpartisan opponent in November. I suppose a case can be made the Republican Party of Florida is also failing its members. There are 26 House seats where no Republican is running. But I am sure they care less because they have controlled the House by overwhelming numbers for more than a decade.

All of this is especially important for Democrats because the next House will handle the once-a-decade redistricting process. By not fielding a solid slate of House candidates, the party has doomed itself to another decade in the minority. Of course, the rigged map approved in 2002 is part of why so few districts in Florida are battlegrounds. Democrats and Republicans alike have been drawn into isolated boxes.

I am especially angry as a progressive, but voters of all political persuasions are being cheated of the Democratic process. Consider this. If we assume every independent, third-party and write-in candidate loses, which history shows is a safe bet, then more than half of the state House races have already been won by one party or the other. Only 59 races have both a Democrat and a Republican in the race.

We are a closed primary state, and that assumes legislatively that a two-party system offers the best choice for voters. Too bad neither members of the Legislature nor leaders of the two parties feel the same way.