In Florida, independent voters can’t vote in primaries, and in Florida and in Duval County, the youngest voters are overwhelmingly refusing the Republican and Democratic parties. While about one in four Florida voters are independent, among voters 18 to 22, two out of five reject the major parties.
These voters are more likely to reject the Republican Party and register as an independent or a third party, and 18- and 19-year-olds even choose to be independent or a third-party voter more than they choose the Democratic Party. They’re also the only age groups younger than 56 that don’t prefer the Democratic Party.
“I’m not really familiar with all these terms,” Franklin said. He’s 18, a high school student at Catapult Academy, and he registered to vote because he wants to do his civic duty, but no one explained what a primary was or what being an independent voter meant. “I just knew I wanted to vote for the president and serve this country well.”