A sign on the Jacksonville Jaguars' field on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, encourages Duval County residents to vote. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on October 31, 2024 at 11:42 am
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The home stretch of the election season serves as a final opportunity for scores of Duval County residents to remain eligible voters.
Some 85,793 voters could be removed from the voter rolls if they do not vote in this year’s general election, according to records from the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office.
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Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland stressed during an appearance on First Coast Connect that both active and inactive voters are allowed — and encouraged — to vote this year.
In September, the Jacksonville City Council devoted $25,000 from a special council contingency fund to reach inactive voters.
The dollars were used in two ways: $18,000 will be spent to email, call or text voters who have provided contact information, and $7,000 will be devoted to advertising in Spanish language publications and Black-owned media to encourage voters to update their contact information.
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“After our process, we were able to have contact numbers with probably a third of those (voters),” Holland said. “We did get, I would say, somewhere around 4,000 to 6,000 inactive voters update their registration and address. That definitely helps us to send them sample ballots and make sure they are voting in the correct precinct.”
Black and Latino voters are overrepresented among inactive voters, a Jacksonville Today analysis found.
Black voters represent more than 27% of Duval’s overall electorate. That percentage is the second-highest in Florida, behind majority-Black Gadsden County. The fact that more than 34% of ineligible voters were Black raised concern among activists.
This fall, Holland has met with leaders from Transformative Justice Coalition, the National Coalition of the Homeless, League of Women Voters Florida and other organizations to hear their concerns.
Duval’s ineligible voters dwindled from more than 94,000 in July and approximately 90,000 voters for August’s primary. Though the number of voters has shrunk, the percentage of white (47.4 %), Black (34.7 %) and Hispanic (7.2 %) ineligible voters ahead of November’s election all remain constant with August.
What makes a voter ineligible?
Declining to participate in an election does not automatically make someone an ineligible voter.
In Florida, anyone for whom election mail is undeliverable is liable to be considered inactive. The law states, “If after two (federal) general elections the inactive voter fails to vote, change/update his or her voter registration record, or request a vote-by-mail ballot, the inactive voter is removed no later than the end of the calendar year.”
Holland states that voting early is the best way for any voter who is concerned whether they are inactive.
People who vote early can do so anywhere in Duval County. However, voters who participate on Election Day must make their choices at their precinct.
More than 264,000 Duval County residents — 41% of registered voters — had participated in early and mail voting as of Thursday morning. Duval Supervisor of Elections Officials anticipate a 77% voter turnout this year.
If reached, that mark would equal the turnout in the 2008 election — the highest for any local, state or federal general election in the last 40 years.
