Jacksonville’s Elections: Vote-by-Mail Procedures Have Changed

JACKSONVILLE, Fl. — As Jacksonville gears up for the March Unitary Elections, 2023 Duval County mail in voting procedures now require a mail in ballot request every two-years as opposed to the former four-year legislation guideline.

Describing the law as good news that will save the County money, Mike Hogan, Supervisor of Elections for Duval County, says the County has already sent 99,000 notices to people to update their mail in ballot requests. Almost 50,000 voters have since responded to the County’s vote-by-mail request.

“We were sending hundreds of mail ballot requests to people that had moved without telling us,” he said. “This will save us a lot of money but not sending ballots to someone who is no longer there.”

In addition to noting the expense incurred by sending mail in ballots to homes vacant of their original occupants, Hogan expressed his concern for ballots becoming “accessed by someone else who would use it to vote.”

“Keeping the role clean is going to be very effective if it’s done every general election,” he said. “The data is more accurate as more people request mail in ballots more often.”

Because the law is new, Hogan said the County also sent messages via social media and the Duval County voter information website informing voters to request a new mail in ballot form for the March election.

According to Hogan, mail in ballots can also be used to vote early or at the polls as the system is designed to accept the first ballot “in.”

“There’s no penalty in not using a mail in ballot,” he concluded. “Mail in voting has a deadline because there’s just so much time needed to get the mail out and back to us.”

Mail in ballots can still be requested for Jacksonville’s Mayoral election set for March 21, 2023.

March 11 is the last day to request a mail in ballot to be sent to you.

For additional information: https://www.duvalelections.com/