March 19 primary vote has just one candidate for most of Florida. Here's why it may matter

Tuesday is election day in Florida but for 58 of the state’s 67 counties there is really no contest.

Palm Beach Gardens, Delray Beach, Longboat Key and other cities will pick mayors, commissioners, and decide policy issues like whether to annex unincorporated neighborhoods on March 19.

But the presidential preference primary for voters everywhere else is more an exercise of civic duty and partisan loyalty than it is to choose a Democratic or Republican nominee for the fall campaign.

Support for President Joe Biden is solid enough for the Florida Democratic Party to decide not to even hold a primary. And all contenders but one, former President Donald Trump, have dropped out of the race for the Republican Party nomination.

Nonetheless, elections officials say there are still reasons to vote and they sent out mail-in ballots Feb. 8, opened early-voting sites, and will staff precinct polls for 12 hours Tuesday and spend another couple hours to tabulate the vote.

'Florida law demands it': Is March 19 vote a flaw in state primary process?

Election workers, party officials, and voters will participate in the exercise despite knowing that President Biden and former President Trump are the nominees because “Florida law demands it,” said former Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, an internationally recognized Florida elections expert.

Sancho gained fame in the legal battles after the state’s 2000 election debacle and is credited for creating Florida’s early-voting procedures and other efforts to increase voter participation.  He retired in 2017.

This election exposes a flaw in how Florida conducts primaries, he said.

Florida law allows the parties to decide who is a candidate for its nomination, sets a Dec. 31 deadline for the parties to submit a slate of candidates for a March presidential primary, and then orders the state’s election officials to conduct that primary – regardless of the nominations being decided – like this year.

“It’s another example of how the Florida election system is relatively disconnected from reality. If you have no real contest, why do you spend the taxpayers' dollars to do it,” said Sancho.

States agreed to pick up the cost for party’s presidential primaries as part of a bargain to move the candidate selection process out of “smoke-filled backrooms and into the public arena,” said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett.

While the parties’ nominees are often decided before Florida weighs in, Jewett says this year is an extreme example of the trend, with Democrats holding no primary at all and the GOP just as committed to its candidate.

Florida has 411 cities, towns, and villages, according to the Florida League of Cities, and the only contest on the Tuesday ballot for voters in 354 of them, including Tallahassee, Fort Jacksonville and Fort Myers, is a GOP contest in which five of the six candidates have withdrawn from the race.

That led the current Leon County Elections Supervisor, Mark Earley, to send out a reminder about the election with a disclaimer for 72% of Leon voters (142,603) who are not registered as a Republican.

“If you are registered with the Democratic Party, a minor party, or no party affiliation, you do not have a ballot in this election,” said Earley about early-voting sites and hours.

Reasons to vote and what to watch for Tuesday: Will Trump get 93% Republican support like last time?

Both Earley and Jewett said despite no opposition for Trump it still is important for the voters registered as Republicans who can vote in a presidential primary to participate in Tuesday's contest.

"It sets an example for your children and is a way to show you take pride in doing your part for democracy," said Earley, and "it's good practice for the fall election."

He and Jewett said an opportunity to show support or opposition to a candidate should not be taken lightly.

"The primary lets your party know how you feel. There is still plenty of political jockeying between now and the national party conventions,” said Earley.

Trump easily won two previous Florida presidential preference primaries – vanquishing Sen. Marco Rubio 45% to 27% in 2016. Rubio ended his campaign the next day, leaving Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to fight it out for another six weeks before Trump delivered a knockout blow and claimed the nomination with a win in Indiana.

Four years later when he sought reelection as president, Trump faced only token opposition in the Florida primary from three relatively unknown challengers. He claimed more than nine out of every 10 votes.

Tuesday is an opportunity to gauge Trump's support in Florida in the wake of his legal battles and a takeover of the Republican National Committee last week by Trump loyalists – including installation of his daughter-in-law as co-chair and the firing of senior staff.

Although they have withdrawn their candidacies, favorite son Gov. Ron DeSantis, and a crew of former governors that include South Carolina's Nikki Haley, New Jersey's Chris Christie, and Arkansas' Asa Hutchinson remain on the ballot as options, observed Jewett.

"It may be worthwhile to turn out to send a message or signal of support or opposition to Trump," said Jewett. "He got 93% last time (2020) if he does better it will show he really has a lock on the Republican Party in Florida."

Other than that Tuesday's primary is meaningless unless you live in one of the few municipalities which have piggyback local elections, said Sancho.

"The only important thing is the local elections ‒ with one caveat," said Sancho. "Unless you want to keep a perfect voting record in every election."

But in 58 counties, if you are not a registered Republican there is no ballot for you to cast, "so this election doesn't count for you," said Sancho.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida March 19 primary: It's Trump's show, but voting will go on