Broward To Cut 150,000 Voters; GOP Still A Loser
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Broward County’s voting rolls are getting smaller – by more than 10 percent.
Removing inactive voters from the registration list in September will decrease Broward’s total number of voters from over 1 million to approximately 900,000.
Despite the decrease in total voters, Democrats will continue to dominate Broward.
And despite the strength of Republicans statewide, the GOP here won’t regain the numbers it had a decade ago. It has lost members in Broward over the past decade.
“I guess it’s harder to hold a registration drive at a country club,” quipped Mitch Ceasar, the Broward Democratic boss.
Shaving the voting rolls is not the results of the recession forcing residents to move away or a sudden disinterest in politics.
It’s the semi-annual cleaning of the registration records to remove those who died or have moved. The process is mandated by Florida law.
There are currently 1.06 million voters in Broward. Of these, an estimated 150,000 have not answered three letters from the Supervisor of Elections office asking where they were.
Many missing voters were ID’d when the sample ballots or change of polling place notices were returned by the Postal Service. Some failed to vote in two or more federal elections.
The removal of these voters will not change the cost of campaigning. Polling and mailed advertising target likely voters, which are those who consistently vote.
The removal of missing voters also will not change the relative strength of Broward Democrats. The county has had a majority of voters registered Democrat throughout its history. Republicans have desperately tried to hold on to a foothold.
Broward’s Decreasing Republicans
There were 248,370 registered Republicans on July 31. That’s down from the 275,233 Republicans in February, 2002.
There were 553,082 Democrats on July 31. That’s up from 477,023 in February, 2002. It’s even up from December 8, 2008’s total of 486,783, which is right after the Obama team made a concerted registration effort.
Independents went from 183,653 to 205,872 over the same decade.
Here is the math:
Democrats increased 76,059 since February 2002.
Independents increased 22,219 in the same period.
Republicans lost 26,863.
September 1st, 2011 at 2:47 pm
The BREC has made no concerted registration effort in years. We continue to depend on Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach and Obama for elections. Apparently the leadership hasn’t noticed that Fort Lauderdale had an all-Republican commission a just few years ago and now is Democrat. Fort Lauderdale has a new electorate. The BREC has made no effort to gain their votes.
September 1st, 2011 at 2:49 pm
There are a lot of Democratic in this town who are Democrats in registation but vote Republican. Mitch Ceasar will find that out next November
September 1st, 2011 at 4:08 pm
The Statewide GOP, including the BREC, is starting a Voter Registration Drive…now that the BREC has had such good fundraising, Caesar will find out soon what the party can accomplish.
Buddy, check out the new Republicans in Broward with a call to the SOE – it’s about 5,000 since the Book closing date for Nov 2010 elections. 248,917 Republicans today…248,714 on Book closing date of October 4, 2010. Some have been read off already, but there are about 5K newly registered.
GOPPapa – how about showing some positivity instead of spending your energy on a blog?
September 1st, 2011 at 7:53 pm
What is a BREC? Look at LaMarca BREC did nothing for him and he took the FOrt Lauderdale Commission District. DiNapoli will be ousted at Presidency 5 and finally there will be some true leadership and someone with the abilty raise money and votes at the helm.
September 2nd, 2011 at 7:48 am
Sniff Sniff, I smell honey badgers in the house
September 2nd, 2011 at 7:52 am
BREC spends its time worrying about keeping bloggers from videotaping the Chairman and trying to convince everybody that said Chairman is raising coin and doing great. He isn’t. He can’t. Too many “distractions” and nobody believes his little treasurer’s claims made from the dais each month, but which they are afraid to back up with a forensic audit. In that context: surpise the GOP is in such sorry shape?
September 2nd, 2011 at 8:13 am
Mitch Ceasar’s foolish reference to the GOP at the country club is ridiculously out of date. A quick review of campaign contributions the past several years will show that it is the Dems who now have the big bucks.
September 2nd, 2011 at 8:36 am
“Real” BREC Member: For how long? Nobody buys that silly party line.
Raising money? No evidence. A forensic audit would prove that. That’s why your Chairman Mao runs away from it.
He’s doing reat how else? By bringing a state party investigation down on Broward for the first time ever?
Your Chairman is paranoid and surrounds himself with people who tell him how wonderful he is. Guess what: It didn’t work for his friend Charlie Crist and it won’t work for him.
Everyone knows: The Emperor has NO clothes on!
September 2nd, 2011 at 9:06 am
Boy, I smell AGM, Harris, and the same group of malcontents that have criticized every BREC chair for the last ten years. Facts are stubborn things – the FACT is that the new chair DiNapoli HAS raised money and everyone knows it…so are you now adding to your laundry list of BS accusations that there are phoney treasurer’s reports? Perhaps, AGM, if you actually stayed beyond signing in and leaving the meeting right afterwards you would actually know something. It’s amazing that you spend so much energy attacking fellow Republicans – exactly whose side on you on? Caesar’s? Sure looks like it. The BREC is looking forward to your apology but we know you don’t have the principles to ever make one.
September 2nd, 2011 at 9:47 am
I hear they are coming to remove DeNapoli and file criminal charges against a couple of people for filing false police reports.
September 2nd, 2011 at 10:34 am
Chad, sorry, “REAL BREC MEMBER”, you say that BREC “is starting” voter registration drives just now? You mean BREC has yet to have one? What the heck has DeNapoli been doing since elected chairman? He should have been doing that from day one but he’s been too busy attacking the people that did not vote for him or do not agree with him.
September 2nd, 2011 at 11:28 am
That’s probably why Richard didn’t trust Chad to talk to the State Committee today. HAHAHAHAHAHA
September 2nd, 2011 at 11:35 am
I hear Manjarres is universally despised for what he did to Bitner, namely damaging the poor man’s dignity with his leak.
The only outstanding “charges” are against Manjarres…baseless grievances against DeNapoli were dismissed by in May. Manjarres is the one awaiting removal – but wasn’t he already removed????
Once again, you few malcontents are your own worst enemies – you can’t recognize the simple fact that Chair DiNapoli has been doing a good job – raising money, having a great Lincoln Day and BBQ, attracting new members to the organization, etc. If you spent time listening at a BREC meeting (if you actually attend), you’d know what’s going on. You are the ones wasting your energy attacking a good chairman. It begs the question once again, Whose side are you on? Caesar’s me thinks!
September 2nd, 2011 at 11:50 am
What is a honeybadger?
September 4th, 2011 at 8:05 am
DeNapoli is the weakest chairman the party has ever had. He needs to be removed before the next election along with his soul mate, Ricco Petrocelli.
September 4th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Typical Marxist attitude to talk about removing someone who was duly elected…par for the course for Manjarres and his small (and getting smaller) group of followers. Once again, very poor choice of Blog posting names. I’m sure the real D B appreciates your using his situation to drive traffic to your site.
September 7th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I dont know if its harder to register voters at a county club, but the Broward Democratic Party has NO plans to register any new voters as they are running scared of the potential liability under Rick Scott’s new voter registration laws