Voters in Florida have decided not to modify the state’s constitution to change how the primary election system works.

With fewer than 60-percent of voters approving of Amendment 3, Florida’s system of primary elections for the state legislature, the governor and cabinet members will stay the way it is. If voters had reached the 60-percent threshold to amend the constitution, Florida would have become an open primary state, allowing people to cast ballots regardless of their political party affiliation.

The failed amendment would have changed the Florida Constitution, Article VI, Section 5, to include a section C, essentially changing the state’s primary-election system from a closed election restricted to party-affiliated voters to one that allowed people to participate regardless of party; and the top two candidates would have gone on to the general election. That would have been considered a “top-two primary.”

Instead, the system will not change, and voters will need to continue being registered with a political party, such as the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, to vote in a primary election.

For context, Amendment 3 would have opened up the process to the nearly 4 million voters in Florida who are not registered with either party. No Party Affiliation, or NPA, voters represent about one-fourth of all registered voters in the state. 

Research conducted by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found moderate candidates, in some cases, were slightly more likely to be successful after a "top-two" system was enacted somewhere, but it varied by party.

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