JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Candidates for Florida governor are the headliners for the Aug. 28 primary, but there is so much more on the ballot. Early voting begins Monday and later in the week in other counties across the state, yet more than a half million Floridians have already voted.
"I've already sent out 40,000 mail ballots. I've already received thousands back. It's not Aug. 28, but I'm already in the election cycle and, Monday, early voting starts," Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan said Friday.
Sample ballots were mailed or emailed to the 593,052 registered voters in Duval County, and other counties have also mailed out information about their primaries.
There are dozens of races on the ballot other than the candidates for statewide office.
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"There are some (U.S.) House races, state House races. There are some school board races, depending on where your district is," Hogan said. "And then, of course, everybody (in Duval County) will be able to vote for the three judge positions that will be on this ballot."
While most of the big-name races are on the Democratic and Republican ballots, the judge races, school board seats and other nonpartisan races like tax collector will appear on everyone's ballots.
Also, partisan races where there's no opposition in November's general election will be open to all voters in the party in the primary, including Jacksonville’s state House District 14.
"Some Republicans have already called in, thinking, 'What have you done here? You've got a Democrat on my ballot,'" Hogan said. "There is a district race between two Democrats, and there are no Republican challengers, so that race will be over in the primary."
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As far as constitutional amendments, those will be left for voters to decide in November.