A study that evaluated the 2012 voting process in 40 Florida counties ranks Duval near the bottom.
The Washington-based think tank, Center for American Progress Action Fund, looked at things like voter registration and turnout, voter-roll purges and time spent waiting to vote.
Of the 40 counties Duval ranked 35th, largely because of the number of provisional ballots.
Joshua Field is with Center for American Progress. He says in Duval County 4.3 percent of the ballots cast in 2012 were provisional ones.
Statewide, provisional ballots accounted for slightly more than one percent of those cast.
“What we do is we compare to the state average so while there may be very valid reasons for rejecting some, we want people to start asking questions on why a county would stand out so much more than other state averages,” he said.
According to the study, not only was the percentage of provisional ballots cast in Duval County the highest in the state but more than a third of those cast were not counted.
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland says the county only rejects duplicate votes.
“It’s considered there a negative. But, again, if you’re facilitating the right to vote with a provisional and the only ones you’re rejecting are those who already voted, it’s a good process," he said, "And we’ll be eliminating a lot of that with the electronic poll books.”
Holland says the electronic books will allow poll workers to check voter data onsite which should substantially cut the number of provisional ballots being cast.
You can follow Cyd Hoskinson on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
