JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A number of rallies were held Friday in Jacksonville ahead of early voting on Oct. 24.
With only 18 days until election day — many voters will be out casting their ballot early. Already, more than 29,000 people have cast votes by mail. That’s only about four percent of the registered voters — but by the time this election is over — it’s predicted to go 62.
To make that happen — several groups around Jacksonville were spreading the word.
A 26-city tour — called the “Arc of the Voter Justice Tour” — made up of various civil action groups stopped in Jacksonville at Edward Waters University Friday in hopes of encouraging students to vote. The young vote could have a big impact on the election.
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But after News4JAX spoke with young voters on Friday we learned many of the college students weren’t watching regular TV, so they haven’t seen the barrage of political ads and news stories, and they weren’t really aware of the issues — but the students are planning to vote.
“Do you know who the candidates are?” News4JAX Reporter Jim Piggott asked one student.
“Not off the top of my head,” Takayle Richmond, a student at Edward Waters University, said.
“It’s kind of confusing, right?” Piggott asked. “Yeah,” Richmond said.
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We spoke with Marcus Arbery, Ahmaud Arbery’s father — the young man who was gunned down and murdered during a racially motivated attack in Brunswick, Georgia, in 2020 — and asked him what difference he could make in an election.
“I am here today to exercise our right to make sure that Black people get on the vote,” Marcus Arbery said.
“What happened with your son — do you think that will motivate people to vote?” Piggott asked.
“I really hope it do because I don’t want no family going through what I went through — losing a child — because of their skin color, Arbery said. “So that’s why we get everyone to vote so everyone can be treated equally.”
Early voting in the Nov. 8 general election starts Monday in Jacksonville as well as Alachua, Bradford, Flagler and Putnam counties. Voting sites are open by the end of the week in all Florida counties. Voting continues through the Saturday before Election Day across the state and through the Sunday before the election in Duval, Bradford and one early voting site in Gainesville.