Primary Election gobbledygook: Understanding partisan elections

Florida is a “closed Primary” state, which means that during Primary Elections, voters may only vote for candidates of their own political party; Democrats can only vote for candidates who are Democrats, Republicans can only vote for candidates who are Republicans.

The General Election in November is “open” in that you can vote for any candidate who qualified, but only if they survive their Primary.  So long as all candidates for an individual seat are from the same party, all voters will get to vote regardless of party affiliation.  But if even one candidate is from a different party from the others, or running as an independent or without party affiliation, or as a write-in, the Primary Election is closed.

Historic City News readers have criticized this process in the past when, often during the last days of qualifying, a “strawman” or “spoiler” enters an otherwise open Primary.  And, because they are almost always a write-in candidate, not a likely or even a serious candidate, they pay no qualifying fees to enter the race, and the only thing accomplished is to close the Primary Election; prohibiting all registered voters from voting — except those from the party they are protecting.

Seat 4, vacated by outgoing commissioner Jay Morris, has garnered six qualified candidates.  However, only four names will appear on the August 28th ballot; and, those names, only on the ballots of registered Republican voters.

Although he is a registered Republican, John C. (Jack) Gorman, chose to run with no party affiliation.  Had he run as a Republican, all voters, Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Tea Party Candidates, etc., would have voted in an open, or “universal” Primary Election for County Commission Seat 4.  He closed the Primary.

At the eleventh-hour on the last day of qualifying, the most highly contested local race drew a write-in candidate.  In the history of available recordkeeping of St Johns County elections, no constitutional officer or county commissioner has ever been elected as a write-in candidate.

Daniel James Heiser Sr, a 25-year-old resident using his mother and father’s home address in the Keswick section of Royal St Augustine, spent over a half-hour filling out forms to qualify for Seat 4 as a write-in candidate.  The address is in District 2, not District 4, but he was allowed to qualify anyway.  Heiser lists no employer or other source of income, no assets or liabilities.  On his financial disclosure, he lists no bank account; however, he says his net worth is $1,588.  I guess he just carries it around in his pocket.  His name will not appear on any ballot materials. Instead, in the November General Election, the winner of the Republican Primary Election, and the no-party candidate, Jack Gorman, will face-off against a blank line.  Had Gorman not already closed the Primary Election, Heiser would have.

The list of candidates, alphabetically by office sought, that qualified on Friday, are: