Let's just get this out of the way right now: Last night was an electoral shitstorm. Florida will have to deal with four more years of Rick Scott and his cronies' continued organized theft and destruction. The numbers are largely unchanged from four years ago with Rick Scott picking up a narrow victory by nearly 90,000 votes, except this time instead of running against a banker, he ran against a former Republican Governor turned Democratic Candidate.
While the Democrats can take much of the blame for this loss with their piss poor campaign, there's another element that deserves more blame than do the Democrats. What is it, you ask? Non voters.
Let me illustrate this point below the orange calligraphy.
The graph below shows the total number of registered voters in Florida for 2014 and splits them up by party affiliation.
Registered Voters in Florida for 2014
I have to admit that 3 million with no party affiliation is somewhat interesting, but I digress. This next graph, based on the the gubernatorial election shows voter participation for this year.
Votes cast for the 2014 elections in Florida
If one were to divide the total number of votes by registered voters, you'd get about 49.5% for total voter turnout. If you ask me, that's just shitty, especially considering we have a fairly high number of voters who are registered as 'other'. And those 'other' voters had the lowest turnout, with under 10%. Who did they vote for? Republican sympathizer Adrian Wyllie. Yeah, I'm well aware he's a "Libertarian", but as far as I'm concerned, Libertarians in America are just Republicans who are too ashamed to admit they're Republicans. Just look at what they actually do when they get elected and you'll see why I make such a point.
With all that behind me, here's what Florida has to look forward to with Rick Scott and his cronies in charge for another four years: More organized theft. More privatization. More environmental destruction and degradation, even though Amendment 1 did pass. More needless suffering because Voldemort refuses to accept the Medicaid expansion. More joblessness or underemployment for those with college degrees. More education and disability services cuts. And this is all because Florida is a non-voting state. Especially where mid-terms are concerned.
I certainly hope the Democratic Party will give us something to actually vote FOR in 2016 and 2018, because as of right now, Florida remains too stupid to govern and too cynical to care thanks to all the old, rich retirees from out of state who vote against OUR interests.
See you around,
Homer
8:31 AM PT: Just a quick update to add my sources.
Registered voter totals: http://registration.elections.myflorida.com/...
Look near the top of the page for registered voter numbers by party affiliation.
Votes counted in 2014 election: http://mynews13.com/...