A Jacksonville Today reader wonders why voters can't cast their ballot at any polling place.
Published on January 18, 2024 at 3:49 pm
More election-day voting locations are being added in St. Johns County due to more people moving into the county.
About 23,000 of the county’s 217,000 registered voters will be affected, said Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes. New voter information cards will be mailed out this week to voters whose polling location changed.
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Oakes’ office announced Wednesday that two new locations were added in the Silverleaf community and in the World Golf Village area.
Oakes said the two new sites were needed to prevent from having long lines for communities that have seen population growth.
“Since the 2022 elections, a couple of our precincts have gotten large enough where they need their own polling place now,” Oakes said.
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The additions will increase the number of polling locations to 43, while the county will continue to have 53 precincts. The county has more precincts than polling locations because some communities are small enough that two precincts can vote at the same location.
Previously, Precincts 203 and 204, which were in the Shearwater and Silverleaf neighborhoods in the northwest part of the county, voted at one location. Now voters in Precinct 204 will vote at the Silverleaf Amenities Center.
Voters in Precinct 203 will continue to vote at the Shearwater Amenities Center, and they will be joined by voters in Precinct 108, which is in the Cimarrone community.
The other additional polling location involves splitting voters in Precincts 205 and 503, which are in the World Golf Village area, from voting at the same location. Voters in Precinct 503 will now vote at the Good News Church in the neighborhood, while voters in Precinct 205 will continue to vote at the St. Johns Convention Center.
The supervisor’s office said the two new polling locations were part of six new locations for seven precincts during the 2024 election cycle. The additional new locations are the Aberdeen Amenities Center, Creekside Christian Student Center, Ponte Vedra Church and the North Shores Community Center.
If you have questions about where you need to vote on an Election Day, you can look up where to vote on the supervisor’s website.
The next election in Florida is the March 19 Presidential Preference Primary on March 19.
