OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Voter registration data show an increasing amount of people are registering as “no party affiliation,” or NPA. 

Statewide election data show NPA voters now make up more than a fourth of Florida’s registered voters. And Osceola County Supervisor of Elections data show the number of NPA voters in the county has surpassed the number of registered Republicans and is nearing the number of registered Democrats.

What You Need To Know

  • Voter registration data show an increasing amount of people are registering as “no party affiliation,” or NPA

  • With NPA voters growing, Republicans and Democrats are taking notice and courting NPA voters to try to score wins in November

  • Statewide election data show NPA voters now make up more than a fourth of Florida’s registered voters

  • Osceola Supervisor of Elections data show registered NPA voters have surpassed registered Republicans, and they are nearing the number of registered Democrats

Republican and Democratic parties in Osceola are taking notice and working to court independent voters.

Steve Wells, who serves as the chair of the county Democratic party, has been out door-knocking in Kissimmee, hoping to convince his neighbors to vote for Democrats in the fall. He knows more of them are registering as NPA.

“Literally two election cycles ago in this town — the Kissimmee City Commission — there was a 50-vote difference between two of the commissioners,” Wells said. “NPAs are part of our target demographic. I got my start in politics as a school board candidate, and those are NPA races.”

Republicans are also going door-to-door, where they believe they can sway the most NPA registered voters.

“You can look and it will say no party affiliation, but it’s very clear the only thing that matters to them is, 'OK, what party are you with?' — which is either a good or bad thing — so they clearly think of themselves as a member of a party even though they haven’t selected that box,” said Jesse Phillips, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

Phillips said he believes more people are registering as NPA for privacy reasons.

“It’s not an ideological thing. It’s that people don’t trust giving out their personal information and are only going to give out the required fields," Phillips said.

Part of their outreach is to inform voters.

“There’s a website where you can check out your current status. You can track your ballot,” Phillips said.

GOP leaders in Florida said they hope to convince voters to vote Republican, especially after the state GOP passed laws they believe benefit Floridians.

However, Wells said he believes Democrats have the right agenda to appeal to NPA voters.

“Whether you’re red, blue or other — but we’d obviously prefer you go for us because I think we are presenting the vision that people want to see,” he said.

Wells said with the increasing number of Hispanic voters in the county, he hopes many of the newer residents will vote Democratic, despite their registered party.

“We’re the party that respects those people, and that wants to introduce them to America and show them all the benefits here, whether that’s economic or personal freedoms, " Wells said. "And we’re going to continue doing that moving forward.”