Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office

5200-2 Norwood Ave. Jacksonville, FL 32208

CONTACT:
Renee Grant (904) 555-5555 renee_grant_29@yahoo.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NORTHSIDE RESIDENTS VOTING THIS ELECTION YEAR

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 11, 2012 -- Michael Swapsy, a Jacksonville poll worker, anxiously waits to see how the voters turnout will affect this year election. I have the same amount of work to complete and less amount of time, Swapsy argues. Although, local election officials say they havent had problems with voting fraud, the new law passed July 1, 2011, has defiantly affected Florida voter registrations. One of the biggest difficulties with the new law was instead of the regular 10 days groups were now required to file new voter registration applications with election officials within 48 hours. It has without a doubt hurt registration numbers, said president of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Florida. It really gummed up the works and made it harder for Floridians to get registered. Florida Division of Elections shows that currently registration for democratic voters is leading at 41percent, while registration for republican voters is at 36%. In Duval alone there are 223,918 registered democrats and 195,872 registered republicans.

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Compared to the 2008 presidential election, where registered democratic voters numbered at 259,894 and registered republican voters numbered at 95,525, one may asks, Why try to solve a problem, that doesnt need fixing? Jacksonville.com shows that overall, democrats still 445,794 statewide registration advantage. However, the 2011 law has increase the number of registered Republicans to 128,039, surpassing the average of 103,555 during the past two presidential cycles. Just like the rest of Florida residents, Swapsy earnestly awaits to see what the turnout will bring and what will it mean for Florida residents.