Florida's early voting begins Monday. Here's what you need to know to vote in Duval County
Election day is just weeks away, but Monday marks the beginning of Duval County's in-person early voting.
With 20 early voting sites open, Duval has the most early-voting locations per capita among the state's most populous counties. In the August primary, while Duval had higher-than-normal mail ballots, the county still had one of the lower vote-by-mail participation rates and one of the higher rates of ballots getting rejected.
For years, before the coronavirus pandemic, voting-rights activists have pushed early in-person early voting in Duval. With the pandemic, some shifted to demanding more mail ballot options, including 21 dropbox locations across the county, while others, after seeing one in 49 mail ballots rejected in August, have shifted to pushing voters to go in person.
Across the county, Duval's 20 sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day of the week from now through Sunday, Nov. 1. That Monday, the polls will close and then re-open on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Voters must bring a valid ID, which can include passports, driver's licenses, debit or credit cards, concealed weapons permits as well as other identification.
By Friday morning, 11 percent of voters in Duval had already cast mail ballots.
Voters who have received a mail ballot can still vote in person, provided they don't also send in their mail ballot, otherwise the ballot would be invalidated.
Voters who drop off their mail ballot must still abide by the rules of the mail ballot, which means printing their name and signing and dating it on a special envelope holding the ballot.
That signature must match their original signature with the supervisor's office. Voters can track whether their ballot is accepted at the elections supervisor's website. If a ballot is rejected, then voters can cure their ballot by going downtown with an affidavit. Voters have until Nov. 5 to cure their ballots.
Voters need to fill out their envelope with their contact information to get contacted by email.
Mail ballots must come in a special return envelope; bubbles must be filled in with black ink, and the envelopes must arrive at the supervisor's office by Election Day.
Even if ballots are postmarked before Election Day, they won't count unless they've arrived by then.
Each of the 20 early-voting sites has a dropbox, but it's only available during the same 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours as the site.
There will be an extra dropbox available at TIAA Bank Field's Lot J, but just from Oct. 26 through Nov. 1.
Historically, Democrats have favored early voting, while Republicans have favored mail ballots and voting on Election Day. But this year, Democrats have dominated in mail voting so far.
Unlike in other states, Florida elections offices begin counting mail ballots and early votes before Election Day, which allows election officials to release those results shortly after polls close.
Jerry Holland, a former elections supervisor who now serves as Duval County's property appraiser, said that more people voting early and by mail means it's easier to correct any problems that could arise, and it should allow for the election to go more smoothly.
"As many people you can get to vote before election day is an advantage," he said. "The problems usually come election day. If you have a problem with early voting, you can always come back the next day. It’s that election day that’s a crisis because people think they won’t get that opportunity" to vote if something goes wrong.
Duval Early Voting Sites:
ARGYLE BRANCH LIBRARY, 7973 Old Middleburg Road S., Jacksonville, FL 32222
BEACHES BRANCH LIBRARY, 600 Third St., Neptune Beach, FL 32266
BRADHAM & BROOKS BRANCH LIBRARY, 1755 Edgewood Ave. W., Jacksonville, FL 32208
FSCJ – DEERWOOD CENTER, 9911 Old Baymeadows Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256
GATEWAY TOWN CENTER, 910 W. 44th St., Jacksonville, FL 32208
HIGHLANDS REGIONAL LIBRARY, 1826 Dunn Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32218
LEGENDS COMMUNITY CENTER, 5130 Soutel Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32208
MANDARIN BRANCH LIBRARY, 3330 Kori Road, Jacksonville, FL 32257
MURRAY HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 4101 College St, Jacksonville, FL 32205
OCEANWAY COMMUNITY CENTER, 12215 Sago Ave. W., Jacksonville, FL 32218
SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS MAIN OFFICE 105 E. Monroe St., Jacksonville, FL 32202
PABLO CREEK REGIONAL LIBRARY, 13295 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32246
PRIME OSBORN CONVENTION CENTER, 1000 Water St., Jacksonville, FL 32204
REGENCY SQUARE BRANCH LIBRARY, 9900 Regency Square Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32225
SAN MARCO BRANCH LIBRARY, 1513 LaSalle St., Jacksonville, FL 32207
SOUTH MANDARIN BRANCH LIBRARY, 12125 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32223
SOUTHEAST REGIONAL LIBRARY, 10599 Deerwood Park Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32256
UNIVERSITY PARK BRANCH LIBRARY, 3435 University Blvd. N., Jacksonville, FL 32277
WEBB WESCONNETT REGIONAL LIBRARY, 6887 103rd St., Jacksonville, FL 32210
WEST BRANCH LIBRARY, 1425 Chaffee Road S., Jacksonville, FL 32221