Tuesday is primary Election Day in Florida.
Duval County Elections Supervisor Mike Hogan said he expects between 80,000 and 90,000 thousand voters to head to the polls.
Add to that the 80,000 people who voted early, Hogan says, and turnout for the primary could approach 30 percent. It's a figure he calls disappointing, especially given the plethora of issues and candidates on the ballot.
“From judges to school board to state senators, united states senators, congressmen, a new open seat for a congressman,” Hogan says. “Our original estimate was for 35 percent to 37 percent turnout but it’s not showing up right now.”
And if you waited until the last minute to return a mail-in ballot, you should probably head to the ballot box as well Tuesday. Hogan said mail-in, or absentee, ballots have to be in his office by the time polls close at 7 pm. Tuesday.
His office, he said, does what it can to make sure the ballots are there by the deadline and that includes making numerous trips to the post office.
“We’ll go four or five times on Election Day to the mail center," he said. "We’ll make one more run just before 7 p.m. to have them in our hand. So we do everything we can to make sure the ballot gets counted.”
Hogan said if you’re unsure whether your mail-in ballot will arrive in time, you can go ahead and vote in person, just to be on the safe side. And, he said, don’t worry about voting twice since only the first ballot received will be counted.
Polls are open from 7 a.m until 7 pm.
As for the Nov. 8 general election, Hogan said he predicts voter participation could reach a historic mark.
Tune in to 89.9 WJCT 7 p.m. Tuesday for live election coverage hosted by Melissa Ross.
Reporter Cyd Hoskinson can be reached at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-66351 or on Twitter at @cydwjctnews
