Some local races were decided Tuesday by a very small number of votes: In Duval, Cindy Pearson hung on to her school board seat by fewer than 500 votes; in St. Johns, Ann Taylor ousted Commissioner Henry Dean by a margin of less than 800 votes; and in Nassau, Cindy Grooms and Kristi Simpkins are headed to a recount with only 74 votes separating them in their school board race.

The small numbers of votes separating some candidates reflect the small overall numbers of votes cast. The voter turnout rate in Duval County is this week’s number:

Duval and Clay counties each had less than 20% of their registered voters cast a ballot in the primary elections. St. Johns and Nassau scored a bit better – 25.1% and 29.8%, respectively. Baker County, though – a county with fewer total voters than the combined total of Duval’s three most populous precincts – brought out more than half of its voters.

Baker County Elections Supervisor Chris Milton tells Jacksonville Today that Baker’s voter turnout is consistently above the statewide average, but this election’s was especially high because of some “big and hotly contested races on the ballot”: sheriff, superintendent of schools, county judge and two County Commission seats.

Primary goals

In Duval, Republicans and Democrats turned out at similar rates. A higher percentage of registered Republican voters came out to vote in St. Johns County, though, where three county commission races in particular caught residents’ attention. Because of write-in candidates who joined the race but did little to campaign, the commission contests became closed primaries and only Republicans were allowed to vote in them. Two of the three incumbents were unseated by grassroots candidates with relatively little funding.

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Digging into Duval, some precincts had better turnout than others, though none topped about 35%. Parts of Avondale, San Marco, Ortega, and Atlantic Beach reached into the low-30s. Conversely, three precincts around town came in below 10%. The Supervisor of Elections offers a great map showing the turnout in each precinct. How did yours do?

And check out the precinct-level turnout for St. Johns, Clay, Nassau and Baker counties.