ORANGE PARK – Democrats, Independents and voters with No Party Affiliation have bombarded Northeast Florida supervisors of elections offices with Republican voter switch forms over the last three months.

For most who switched, the decision came from a simple conclusion – switch to the Republican Party or lose the right to vote.

Approximately 307,000 registered Republicans in the Fourth Judicial Circuit – made up of Clay, Duval and Nassau Counties – have the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidate in the primaries for three key races closed to voters of other parties. Republican votes will exclusively decide the results of the primaries for Clay County School Superintendent, public defender and state attorney. In the superintendent’s race, incumbent Charlie Van Zant Jr. faces challenger Addison Davis and in the state attorney’s race, incumbent Angela Corey faces challengers Wes White and Melissa Nelson, both former assistant state attorneys. In the public defender’s race, incumbent Matt Shirk faces challenger Charlie Cofer, a former judge.

In less than a month, write-in candidates closed each primary and effectively disenfranchised 440,000 Democrats and Independents across the three-county area.

All legitimate candidates in each of the three races are Republican, so when the write-in candidates qualified they counted as opposition and closed the primaries to an exclusively Republican vote, allowed by Florida law.

Without a voice in the primaries, many Democrats and Independents turned to a party switch as their only option to have any say in these races.

The Clay County Supervisor of Elections recorded more than 3,100 voter switches to the Republican Party between January and August, nearly 10 times what the number of party switches during the 2014 election cycle.

“If you are a Democrat, you are unable to vote for any of those candidates,” said Cheryl Owen, member of the Clay County Democratic Party. “The ones that I’ve talked to did not want to switch parties, they felt like they had to switch parties in order to express their dissatisfaction with the people that are currently in office…They feel like they’re left out of the decision making process, and I do too.”

Owen said while Democratic Executive Committee meetings have been upbeat lately, there has been talk about opening Florida’s primary process so write-in candidates cannot close primaries.

Write-in candidates do not appear on the ballot, instead voters can write his name on a blank space provided next to the primary winner.

Write-ins also do not pay qualifying fees. The Florida Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that write-in candidates also do not need to be likely to win to count as valid opposition.

The candidate who wins the primary will go on to face their respective write-in candidates for the Nov. 8 general election. None of the three write-in candidates have received any campaign donations thus far.

“Disenfranchised in a lot of ways is the right word to use because they’re unable to vote,” said Michael Binder, associate professor of political science at the University of North Florida. “The winner of this election is going to win in November, because these write-in candidates are essentially sham candidates. Whoever wins next week is going to be the next public defender and state attorney come November.”

Many of the voters who switched could just switch back after the primaries, Binder said. However, because Florida utilizes a closed primary process, Democrats and Independents who switched parties waived their rights to vote for their preferred party candidates in the U.S. Senate, Congressional District 5 and House Districts 13 and 15 primaries.

“I think a lot of people got disenfranchised with the Republican Party years ago,” said Leslie Dougher, former Republican Party of Florida chairwoman. “I think a lot of those people are coming back. They may have felt a little unhappy with the Republican Party, but now with [Republican Presidential Nominee] Donald Trump as their candidate, they’re happy with the Republican Party and they want their votes to count.”

The rise in Republican voters is here to stay, Dougher said. Dougher expects the new Republicans in the electorate to stay after the primaries.

Part of the change can be attributed to “closet Republicans,” who already share similar ideology with the Republican Party.

Voter turnout among those who switched parties will be higher than those who didn’t, according to Binder. Even so, the party fluctuations are unlikely to alter the outcomes of the state attorney or public defender’s race. A July 6 poll conducted by UNF showed the primaries could result in landslide victories for opponents.

The poll found Nelson leading incumbent State Attorney Angela Corey by 10 percent, while Shirk trails behind Cofer by 18 percent.

In Clay County, approximately 64,000 Democrats and Independents were disenfranchised when write-in candidate Fred Gottshalk stepped into the superintendent primary. However, he pulled out right before qualifying ended and was replaced by school bus driver Marion “Keith” Nichols of Lake Asbury, therefore keeping the Aug. 30 primary for superintendent closed.

Republicans will have the exclusive opportunity to vote for Clay County’s next superintendent, the next public defender and state attorney on Aug. 30. Early voting began in Clay County on Aug. 18 and ends Aug. 27.

The winner in their respective primaries will go on to face their respective write-in candidates, while the winner of the superintendent’s race will face reading and journalism teacher Rebekah Shively in the general election. Shively is running under no party affiliation.