Florida primary: Why millions of voters can't pick party nominees

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—Candidates and voters are preparing for Florida's primary election, which takes place the following day.

Florida is a closed primary state. That means millions of registered unaffiliated and minor party voters won't have a say in partisan races, like determining nominees for Congress or governor.

When talking with registered voters in Collier County about the state's primary system, there are a mix of opinions, and preference in primary voting system doesn't seem to align with just one party.

Steve Williams says he's lived and voted in the Collier County area for nearly five decades. He's always been independent, until one primary election a decade ago, when he found a candidate he really liked but couldn't cast a vote for.

"I realized that I wasn't able to vote for him because I wasn't registered in that particular party. So that's why I registered to a specific party so that I could vote for the candidate in the party that generally I liked," Williams said.

The decision Williams faced is a product of Florida's closed primary election system, where only voters registered within a given party can vote in that party's primary. Political expert Bethany Conrad from FGCU explained the challenge this creates for some voters.

"Independent voters in Florida are usually not able to participate in party-specific primary elections, which in some ways is difficult, right? Because there are a lot of races that are decided in a primary," Conrad said.

In a Lely neighborhood, several voters—some Republicans and some Democrats—told WINK News off-camera they believe an open primary would allow for more voices to be heard early on. Herron spoke with Conrad about how an open primary could impact candidates.

"You might get a little bit more of a moderate nominee with an open primary, so that might help on that side. But then on the flip side of it, you kind of have this risk of what if voters from the other party try to influence another party's primary election," Conrad said.

Voters like Williams say they prefer the closed primary election system to strengthen candidate picks within parties.

"I think letting the other party involved in the party of your choice, they would do whatever they can to disrupt your choice," Williams said.

For any state to change their primary voting system, Conrad says it isn't easy.

"The state legislature would have to choose whether they want to change the type of system that we have, and it's difficult really to change it," Conrad said.

Regardless of the type of primary election format, Conrad says in the end, voter turnout isn't all that different.

"We don't really see a difference in how many people show up to vote in an open versus a closed primary state. There's no correlation between what type of primary system you have and how high your voter turnout turns out to be," Conrad said.

Across the area, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on election day. 

For more tips and information on how to prepare for the polls, click here.