Closed primary election in Martin County disenfranchises tens of thousands of voters

Kenneth DeAngeles has every right to run for the District 1 seat on the Martin County Commission.

What he doesn't have a right to do ― or at least, shouldn't have a right to do ― is block more than 50,000 registered voters from participating in the electoral process in a meaningful way.

DeAngeles has filled out paperwork to run for the seat as a write-in candidate, which means he won't appear on ballots in either the August or November elections. He didn't pay a fee or collect signatures to qualify, as the candidates whose names will appear on ballots did.

In November, there will be space provided to write in his name, although history suggests he has little chance of winning the seat.

However, thanks to a quirk in Florida's election laws, he's effectively blocking more than 47% of the county's registered voters from participating in the Aug. 20 Republican primary, when the race will more or less be decided.

Write-in provision is an illogical legal loophole

In the primary for District 1, longtime Commissioner Doug Smith will face Eileen Vargas, a financial planner and educator.

On the same day, all of the county's registered voters may select commissioners for District 3 and District 5. Each of those races features only Republican candidates.

Under most circumstances, Florida law allows people of all parties to vote in elections if all the candidates belong to the same party. In 1998, the state's voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that allows so-called "open primaries" under those circumstances.

Except there's a loophole, based on an interpretation of the law made by former Secretary of State Katherine Harris (remember her from the George Bush-Al Gore presidential election?) and later upheld by at least one state Supreme Court decision.

Having even a single write-in candidate in the race ― in this case, DeAngeles ― closes a primary. So only registered Republicans can choose between Smith and Vargas. It doesn't matter that DeAngeles identifies as a Republican, too.

Why do write-ins like running against Doug Smith so much?

As of Monday afternoon, Martin County had 113,089 registered voters. (The numbers are likely to fluctuate somewhat between now and Election Day.) More than half of them ― 59,895 ― are registered as Republicans.

The rest are people who have registered as Democrats or have no party affiliation. Those 53,194 people won't be able to vote in the Smith-Vargas race.

They will have to wait until Nov. 5, when they can cast their votes for whichever candidate wins the Republican primary, or else write in the name of DeAngeles or someone else.

If DeAngeles were a serious candidate, why wouldn't he pay the fee or collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot? I wanted to ask him, but he didn't respond to my phone calls.

Again, all voters, regardless of party affiliation, can participate in the District 3 race, featuring Republicans Blake Capps, Frank D'Ambria and Susan Gibbs Thomas, and the District 5 race, featuring Republicans Edward Campi, Bruce Nathan and Michael Syrkus.

But because of one man, DeAngeles, there will be a different set of rules in District 1. That doesn't seem fair, but it's not the first time it's happened in District 1.

Smith, who's served on the commission since 2000, has also been involved in closed primaries the past three election cycles ― in 2020, 2016 and 2012 . Smith hasn't returned repeated messages, so I couldn't ask him whether he's had a hand in recruiting the write-ins to run against him, effectively preventing registered Democrats or independents from voting against him the past 16 years.

Vargas sees the repeated entry of write-in candidates into Smith's races as more than coincidental.

"This is something Doug has done repeatedly," Vargas said. "It would be absurd to think otherwise. People are not fooled."

Aren't elected officials supposed to represent us all?

If Smith has been recruiting write-in candidates, as many in the community suspect, it might not be illegal, but is certainly seems unethical.

In St. Lucie County, former Sheriff Ken Mascara is facing potential discipline from the Florida Commission on Ethics for for violating Sec. 112.313(6) of Florida Statutes , by "using his position and/or public resources to secure a special privilege, benefit and/or exemption for himself."

Mascara is in trouble for his role in recruiting a candidate to run against a Republican opponent who Mascara, a Democrat, apparently didn't want to face in the 2020 general election. If Smith has been recruiting write-in candidates, directly or through intermediaries, is that a misuse of his public position as well?

Here's the worst part of this: Our democracy is built around the principle that once elections are over, the winning candidates try to represent the interests of all their constituents, not only the ones who voted for them.

If Smith has spent the past 16 years trying to avoid being held accountable by nearly half of the county's residents, what message does that send about the way he chooses to govern?

For her part, Vargas is trying to get the message out about what's happening. She challenged Smith to condemn the "legal but manipulative tactic."

And she called on all Republican candidates in the August primaries to denounce what's happening as an "attack on election integrity."

She may not have much luck there. Democrats and Republicans alike seem to prefer "pure" primaries, where only their members can participate.

Is that good for government, though? Few enough people participate in elections as it is. Further reducing the number of eligible voters weakens the democratic process.

It's also fair to question why county commission elections are partisan in the first place. As it's often been said, there's no Republican or Democratic way to pave a pothole. Local issues demand local solutions that often transcend traditional party ideology.

Unfortunately, the political tide seems to be moving in the wrong direction. Some state legislators are interested in making school board races partisan , too, which could only exacerbate the trend of putting culture war issues ahead of focus on student learning.

There is a workaround to the workaround

Even with the District 1 primary closed, Smith may run into trouble with Republican voters this year. Some are unhappy with his performance in office, particularly his support of a property tax increase last year.

There is a way people registered as Democrats or those without party affiliations can vote in the Smith-Vargas primary. All they have to do is switch their party affiliations to Republican, a fairly simple process that can be done online, before the July 22 deadline.

After the election is over, they can switch their registrations back to what they were before. The trade-off is they would miss the opportunity to vote in any Democratic primaries, including one for U.S. Senate. Among the contenders for the Democratic nomination for that seat is Palm City resident Stanley Campbell .

If shuffling registration status seems like gaming the system, maybe it is. However, if legislators aren't willing to change the law to protect the rights of nearly half the county's voters, then desperate times call for desperate measures.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay . Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424 .

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Closed primary election in Martin County disenfranchises tens of thousands of voters