JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With Florida’s primary on the horizon, there are some changes voters need to know about when they get ready to head to the polls.
Florida’s primary is set for March 19. Voter registration closed earlier this week. Registration cards are in the mail. And while it’s not a document you usually pay a lot of attention to, this go round you might want to give it another look.
It shows your polling place. And 250,000 voters’ polling places changed this election cycle in Duval County, Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said.
Holland said there will also be new voting equipment.
“The council gave us $2.6 million to replace voter equipment, which is important when you come to the security of elections, making sure that equipment doesn’t fail on election day,” Holland said.
Voters will soon be getting mail-in ballots as well. Both mail-in and early voting have become hot-button political issues after claims by former President Donald Trump that mail-in voting is corrupt.
Holland said in Florida, mail-in voting is “very protected” because of the identifying information voters have to provide and the fact that voters can track their mail-in ballots from the time they leave the SOE office to the time they come back.
“Then the process that we validate the ballot and check the signature is very secure,” Holland said. “Our staff goes through training. It’s a very secure process.”
Holland also encouraged voters to check their voter status on the SOE website to make sure no one is requesting a mail-in ballot in their name.
“If you think someone’s requesting a ballot for you, go online, check to see if we’ve got you signed up for one,” Holland said.
And for those who believe election fraud is a real problem, safeguards are in place to make sure the ballots are secure and the ballot count is accurate.