Clay County Superintendent of Schools race the latest example of how write-in candidates can wreak havoc

The argument over whether a write-in candidate should force a closed primary is nothing new.

In races where all of the candidates belong to a single party, the primary opens, meaning both major parties, no party-affiliated voters and third party voters can all vote in the primary. But when a write-in candidate qualifies, it closes the primary.

That’s what’s happening in Clay County where Tyler Groves filed as a write-in for Superintendent of Schools.

His entrance into the race is a particularly egregious example of how plopping a write-in candidate into a race robs a solid portion of the voting populous from participating in the democratic process.

For the uninitiated, here’s why that’s a problem.

In this case, all of the candidates, including Groves, are Republicans. Because of Groves, only Republicans will vote in the primary, sending their nominee to the general to run against Groves.

Yes, Democratic voters can cast a ballot in November, but they get virtually no say in who takes the office because write-in candidates are never, and I’m OK with saying never here, successful. The winner of the primary will win the general.

With nearly 84,000 Republicans, Clay County is overwhelmingly conservative. But there are still nearly 36,000 Democrats and 35,000 independents, as well as nearly 2,000 third party voters, all of whom will disenfranchised.

And for what?

Groves entered the race June 12, the final day to qualify for the race. Entering in the 11th hour isn’t necessarily a sign of a candidate’s viability, but that’s not the only red flag that this is a repulsive example of wresting civil rights from nearly half of the county’s voters.

Groves, get this, not only doesn’t live in the county, he lists his address as a vacant lot in Starke, the next county over in Bradford.

It doesn’t appear Groves has ever lived in the district.

So not only is he robbing the vote from some 72,000 voters, he’s running for countywide office in a county where he doesn’t pay taxes or have any other ties to the community.

He graduated from Bradford High School in 2016, the next county over.

The four Republican candidates in the race, the ones who are seriously running and who actually live in the district, should call on Groves to withdraw from the race in order to let democracy work for all, not just the county’s Republicans.

And Groves, if he has any interest in seriously seeking elected office in the future, should heed that call. If he ever wages a credible campaign, any campaign consultant worth their weight in salt would surely look back at this assault on voting rights and use it against him.