The Florida Democratic Party isn’t having a 2024 presidential primary; could it suppress votes for local Democrats?

Share
Gulfport election day
Election Day in Gulfport. Tom Bixler is challenging incumbent April Thanos for city council. By Sean Kinane/WMNF News (19 March 2024).

It’s Election Day in Florida, but many people might not realize it.

Local candidates are on the ballot in some counties like Pinellas.

Plus, Republicans are voting in their party’s presidential preference primary even though former President Donald Trump has secured enough delegates to be the Republicans’ presumptive nominee.

The Florida Democratic Party opted to not hold a presidential preference primary, awarding all the state’s delegates to President Joe Biden.

WMNF News spoke with Becky Rudolph, a new resident of Gulfport who voted at City Hall when polls opened Tuesday morning.

She is focused on the Gulfport race for city council between April Thanos and Tom Bixler and did not vote in the presidential preference primary.

Rudolph says no primary election may have led to fewer Democratic voters coming out to vote in local elections.

“It probably did, just because people don’t always pay attention to the local stuff, which I think gets overlooked a lot.

“Also, I saw that in other states people were able to protest by [voting “uncommitted.”]

“But so we weren’t given that opportunity to sort of show where we’re at.

“So it’s unfortunate but not surprising here.

“It’s very important to vote for your local because it affects you the most.”

– Gulfport resident Becky Rudolph

Listen:

Your county’s Supervisor of Elections website has information about the races and candidates on your ballot.

Polls are open until 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

St. Pete nonprofit amplifies HIV prevention amid rising rates in Pinellas County

Listen: A St. Petersburg nonprofit is spreading the word about...

weather
Cool weather on Saturday will give way to warmer weather and winds

FPREN: Expect a brief cooldown before temperatures start to rise...

SCOTUS demonstration
A hearing is set to consider a fine that Florida imposed on the group supporting Amendment 4

The hearing deals with the dispute between the Floridians Protecting...

The Scoop: Fri. Dec. 6, 2024, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

The St. Petersburg City Council approved the bonds necessary to...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Poetry Is
Player position: