Thousands of South Florida voters switching parties ahead of presidential primary

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A large number of former South Florida Democrats are set to have a say in the race between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.

During Sunday’s episode of This Week in South Florida, Broward County’s Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott spoke about the changes.

“We actually had 2,500 switch (between) Jan. 1 and the deadline that passed last Tuesday,” said Scott.

In Miami-Dade, more than 4,100 voters switched from Democrat to Republican heading into Florida’s primary election next month.

Perhaps last month’s Iowa Caucus provides a clue into what is happening in Florida.

Up in Iowa, voters could switch parties on election night and vote in either party’s primary.

In Florida, primaries are closed to only party members, and state Democrats have already picked Joe Biden as Florida’s winner.

It appears thousands of voters are switching to have a say in the spicier race between Trump, the frontrunner, and Haley, his defiant, persistent opponent.

But five other former candidates are also on Florida’s ballot, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, though all five have said they suspended their campaigns.

“But that’s not official action,” said Scott. “They need to actually file paperwork to have their name removed from the ballot, and a lot of these people didn’t do that in time.”