When completing the Florida Voter Registration Application Form, one of the fields is Party Affiliation. In this field, you have several options. You can chose from one of the major political parties (Florida Democratic Party or Republican Party of Florida), one of the minor political parties, you can select no party affiliation (NPA), or you can leave the field blank. If you leave this field blank on the application form, our office will register you with no party affiliation (NPA) by default. The following link will provide a list of current political parties in Florida:
Florida is a closed primary state. That means that in most cases only voters who are affiliated with or registered members of political parties may vote for their respective party's candidates for an office in a Primary Election.
(For example: only registered Republicans can vote in a Republican Primary contest and only Democrats can vote in a Democratic Primary contest.)
However, there are times when all registered voters can vote in a Primary Election contest, regardless of party affiliation:
- If all the candidates for an office have the same party affiliation and there is no opposition in the general election (no write-in or no party affiliation candidates have qualified), then all registered voters can vote for any of the candidates for that office in the primary election, and the winner is decided in the primary election.
This is called a Universal Primary Contest.
- If contests for nonpartisan offices (such as judicial and school board seats), nonpartisan special districts, or ballot issue questions (amendments/referendums) are on the primary election ballot, then all registered voters are entitled to vote in those races on the ballot.
As you can see, there are certain contests that can be decided in the primary election and may never make it to the general election ballot.
At a General Election, all registered voters receive the same ballot with the same contests and may vote for any candidate or question on the ballot.
You can update your voter registration record at any time, however the registration deadline for new registrations in Florida and party changes is typically 29 days before an election. Any new registrations or party changes received during the registration book closing period will not take effect until after the election.