Ballot measures would revamp primaries

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A political committee has started moving forward with a petition drive aimed at overhauling Florida’s primary-election system.

The committee All Voters Vote, Inc. paid $125,000 in March to BH-AP Petitioning Partners LLC for petition work aimed at getting two proposed constitutional amendments on the November 2020 ballot, according to a new finance report posted on the state Division of Elections website.

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The proposed amendments -- one for U.S. Senate and U.S. House races and the other for state races -- would allow all registered voters to cast ballots in primaries, regardless of political affiliation. The two candidates getting the most votes in each primary would advance to the general election.

The effort’s backers include prominent South Florida health-care executive Mike Fernandez, who said in a news release last month that he has “watched with frustration how Florida politicians live in fear of being ‘primaried.’ They know what is right but can’t do what is right because of fear of retribution.”

To get the measures on the ballot, the committee would need to submit 766,200 valid petition signatures for each proposal.