Steve Hough is the Co-Chair of Florida Open Primaries, a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting Amendment 3 for nonpartisan primaries in Florida. He is also Director of Florida Fair and Open Primaries.
News
Votes are still being counted in several states across the country. Unlike the year 2000, Florida is not in the spotlight. However, Florida should be highlighted as the state where a proposed state constitutional amendment received 57% of the vote but will not be adopted. Amendment 3 proposed the implementation
Opinion
This November, St. John’s County Florida elects a sheriff. It’s an important race as law enforcement culture and training is the subject of local and national debate--except 47.2% of voters in the county will be denied the right to vote -- how could this be? This is
News
For over twenty years, political party insiders in Florida have been conspiring against the voters to stop them from establishing open primaries. But the tide is turning. In 1998, when independents were starting to emerge as a significant portion of the Florida electorate, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment allowing
News
Over the past two years, Florida has experienced a flurry of activity aimed at opening our closed primary system to 3.6 million independent voters (called NPA for “no party affiliation” in FL). Beginning in the Spring 2107, Florida Fair and Open Primaries, Inc., partnered with Open Primaries to engage
News
Oftentimes as citizens we say things like “someone should really do something about X, Y, or Z,” or we wonder how some big achievement in history happened, almost as if it happened by magic. But change does not happen magically. It happens when someone (or lots of people) take the
News
The big news coming out of Florida recently was Hurricane Michael. After developing quickly and moving fast, it roared ashore as a strong Category 4 storm. Although my hometown was in the bull’s eye from the beginning, and it never deviated from its projected path, the intensity took many
News
FLORIDA - In March 2017, I was asked to assume leadership of the grassroots organization Florida Fair and Open Primaries (FFAOP). The organization was created by Duane Pike, of Tampa, FL in 2012 under another name, but the mission was always to advocate for Florida’s adoption of a top-two
News
In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland mass shooting, a new element was incorporated into our collective response. The survivors, and families of those killed, began demanding change. Student leaders from Parkland emerged, and these young people channeled their emotions into activism. They insisted that the Parkland school shooting be
News
If the recommendations of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Unity Reform Commission (URC) are eventually approved and enacted, will the Democratic Party be “united”? Although fissures always exist within political parties, it appears that the Democratic Party’s coalition has not been this fragile since the Vietnam War. While
News
On Wednesday, October 4, I attended the first meeting of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission’s (CRC) Ethics and Elections Committee in Tallahassee. The Florida Constitution requires a CRC be impaneled every twenty years to review our State Constitution and accept input from the public. As a result of the
News
The Florida Constitution Revision Commission convenes every 20 years. It consists of 36 appointees plus the state attorney general. The governor appoints 15, the Florida Senate president appoints nine, the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives appoints nine, and the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court appoints three.
News
For baby boomers, The Rolling Stones and Rolling Stone magazine were big deals. While The Rolling Stones prepared to play their free concert in Cuba, Jann S. Wenner, longtime editor and publisher of Rolling Stone endorsed Hillary Clinton. After having endorsed Barack Obama in March 2008, his endorsement of Hillary