DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – Thousands of Duval County voters could soon find themselves heading to a new polling location — and the change could come sooner than you might think.
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland is set to go before Jacksonville City Council to seek approval for changes to several polling locations across the county. The move is required by state law whenever polling locations are changed.
Recommended Videos
“By state law, whenever we make a polling location change, we must go to the council for approval,” Holland said.
Why locations could change
Holland said the changes are driven by a mix of renovations and polling sites that simply no longer want to participate.
“It is difficult to find polling locations because you’re asking a location to give up part of their building for 14 hours on election day,” Holland said. “And sometimes that’s difficult and very awkward for them to have us being visitors during that period of time.”
He said the county has 160 polling locations, and eight are affected by the proposed changes. The impacted sites are spread across Arlington, the north side, the southeast part of the county and the west side.
“It happens probably every election cycle that we get usually one or two,” Holland said. “It’s been so long since we’ve had an election county-wide — which was 2024 — that’s why we have so many this time.”
Who could be impacted
Holland estimates roughly 30,000 voters will be affected — about 5% of Duval County’s 642,000 registered voters.
Of the eight changes, some are permanent and others are temporary. Temporary changes are tied to ongoing building renovations.
“Temporary means we have to find another location for the August election because they’re renovating the building and they just can’t have us in there while they’re doing renovations,” Holland said.
The permanent changes will take effect beginning with the Aug. 18 primary and carry forward through the November election.
You can see a list of the locations below:
What voters should do
Holland said voters don’t need to take action right away — but should watch their mailboxes once the council signs off.
“As soon as the City Council has approved it, you don’t have to worry until then, but then we’ll send out a new voter information card,” Holland said. “So when you receive that card, you’ll know your polling location has changed.”
He noted that while some voters may find the new location is farther away, others could end up with a more convenient option.
“Sometimes we’ll change the lines and then sometimes we actually change the physical location,” Holland said.
What’s next
The proposal will receive its first reading before the City Council, where public comment will be accepted. It will then go to committee before returning to the full council for a final vote.
Holland added that early voting sites are largely unaffected. The county has already announced the addition of two new early voting locations.
“We’re looking forward to getting it through council so we can notify our voters,” Holland said.