Democrats head into Tuesday election with turnout edge for Jacksonville City Council race
Duval County voters will choose a council member Tuesday for the seat left vacant by the death of Tommy Hazouri in a special election that has seen Democrats more active during early voting as Republicans historically show up in greater numbers on election day.
Four candidates are in the running. They are Nick Howland and Howland "Howdy" Russell, both Republicans, and Tracye Polson and James "Coach" Jacobs, both Democrats. All of them are seeking their first win in a race for elective office.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
About 6.8% of the county's eligible voters had cast a ballot through the end of early voting on Sunday, in line with Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan's forecast that the race would draw 10 to 15% of voters.
Hogan said Monday it still might be possible to hit 15% but it likely will be in the range of 11.7% with the lion's share of voters being those who reliably go to the polls for every election.
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“This one is a hard one to predict," he said. "When you look at special elections all over the state, they’re all low turnout."
Democrats have cast 51.5% of the ballots, Republicans have turned in 38.1%, voters with no party affiliation have cast 9.4% and those with other party affiliations have clocked in at 1%.
Polson and Howland have raised the most money for their election bids as they seek to motivate voters. Howland has run television ads for his candidacy.
If no one breaks the 50% threshold, the top two vote-getters will face off in a February run-off election.
The at-large council seat is elected by voters countywide. The election is open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation.
Coming during the holiday season, most voters so far have chosen the convenience of voting by mail in the election with 58% using that option compared to 42% making the trip to early voting sites through Sunday.
Hogan said the COVID-19 pandemic caused more voters to vote by mail and at early voting in 2020 because they wanted to avoid situations where they were in rooms with a large number of other people.
The pandemic now is at a low point in terms of community spread in Duval County, but Hogan said the experience from 2020 has carried over to the special election with mail-in votes.
“Some people enjoy it and it’s simpler," he said.
He said he's heard from other voters that they're ready to return to election day poll sites after staying away in 2020.
"A lot of people told me they voted by mail in that one but they love to be there on election day, so I think election day will pick up again," he said.
He said the timing of the election during the holiday season has posed some challenges for ensuring enough poll workers are in place.
"Every morning we have to have a meeting to see how many we’ve got and who did we lose," he said. "We keep thinking we have a little bit of a reserve and it goes in a hurry. For a small election, it’s really been tough to manage at points.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Four candidate on Tuesday ballot for Jacksonville City Council seat
