JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s 14 days until election day and already there’s close to a 19% voter turnout in Jacksonville.
According to recent counts, 123,000 people have already voted by mail or in person. There were also long lines again Tuesday at several early voting sites across Duval County.
At the Election Center on the Northside, workers were busy opening vote-by-mail ballots. The ballots were signatures that have been verified are being processed and counted. The results will not be made public until after the polls close election night.
Observers were on hand watching the process. So far there has not been any complaints. Duval Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan says some of the ballots were filled out incorrectly.
“I see some in blue ink that’s not going be tabulated. I saw checkmarks not going to be tabulated. I saw one in red ink not going to be tabulated. So we have to re-check those out, and they have to be duplicated and you know that process,” Hogan said
And there are several hundred signatures that are not being accepted at this point.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 587 people in Duval County have questionable signatures. They have been notified they need to come in and fix them and to date 240 people have taken advantage of that.
At the Gateway Town Center, the old Gateway Mall, there was a steady flow of people including cancer survivor Stephen Murry. He can’t speak but wrote on a tablet that he can vote and that it was very important to be there.
At the Regency Branch Library in Arlington, people were wrapped around the building waiting to get inside. Shirly Lyles says the lines were not intimidating.
“I was surprised but it was so smooth and the helpers know what they are doing,” Lyles said.
Hogan said records are breaking daily and says he expects huge crowds this weekend and next week.