If the Iowa caucuses taught politicos and pundits anything, it's that people were looking for change — again. And in a big way.
According to entrance polls for those caucuses, 45 percent of Republican voters were voting in their first caucus. GOP candidate Donald Trump pushed hard for new voters. So did Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
Florida's presidential preference primary is Tuesday, March 15. But if Floridians wanted to get in on it, they needed to have declared a political party last month.
Open Primaries vs. Closed Primaries
As of Feb. 2016, Florida Division of Elections reports there were 2.8 million Florida voters who were not affiliated with any political party ("No Party Affiliation" on registration forms).
That's 2.8 million voters who are shut out of voting in Florida's presidential preference primary. Or, in fact, any primary election for the major political parties.
Florida is known as a "closed primary state." That means only political party members are able to vote in that party's primary: So only Democrats can vote for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Only Republicans can vote for Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, etc.
Of the 50 states, about half have closed primaries or caucuses:
- Alaska
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Maryland
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Washington
- Wyoming
Additionally, the following are states with a mix of open and closed party primaries:
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Rhode Island
- West Virginia
The rest of the states have open primaries, where anyone can vote in any party's primary.
In some of those closed states, people can change their party affiliation on Election Day.
That is not the case in Florida. Here, you must declare your party affiliation 29 days before the election. That was Tuesday, Feb. 16 for the presidential primary.
Floridians have another primary coming up though. This one is in August, for federal and state-level political races: U.S. Senate races, U.S. House races, Florida Legislature races if necessary, that sort of thing. If you want to see your Congressional district's incumbent not get re-elected, and they have a primary challenger, picking a political party will be crucial to allowing you to vote.
The deadline to register to vote or declare a political party for the August 30 primary is August 1.
- RELATED: How to vote in Florida FAQs
This is only for the Republican and Democratic primaries. If you a member of a third political party, they have their own rules for choosing candidates. Find a list of registered political parties, both major and minor, on the Florida Division of Elections website.
So if you didn't declare a major political party by the deadline last month, or are a no-party-affiliation voter, you can't vote in Tuesday's Florida's presidential preference primary.
However, if you are registered as NPA and live in a municipality that is holding a nonpartisan election Tuesday, such as a mayoral or city council race, you can vote for those candidates and issues. Click on the map below to find your county's Supervisor of Elections. If your county is not highlighted below, you can head to the Florida Division of Elections website to find a link to your county's office.