Bartram’s quick population growth has led to a lack of government buildings for early voting.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Early voting closed in Duval County Saturday, wrapping up the operations at recreation centers and libraries across the county.
Most early voting sites are at government buildings of some kind.
By state law, each county is allowed one wildcard, and you’re looking at it for Duval County: the Holiday Inn Express in Bartram.
Early voting at a hotel is certainly unique, and so is the reason why it made the most sense to be the wildcard location.
“So often, this happens in every community, growth gets ahead of the infrastructure,” said Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland. “Growth gets ahead of public libraries, community centers.”
The Duval Supervisor of Elections Office made it a priority to bring an early voting site to the Southeast corner of the county.
Voters in that area previously had to travel to Baymeadows or Mandarin to cast an early ballot. However, finding a public building proved to be a challenge.
“I predict they will come, but sometimes they lag up to a decade,” said Holland.
So, the supervisor of elections got creative with the Holiday Inn in Bartram Springs.
“We rented a space in a hotel meeting room so we could get people, thousands of people that live down there, an opportunity to vote early,” said Holland.
The elections office added five new sites for 2024, which will stay the same for the August and November elections as well.
Now that Bartram has an early voting site, the supervisor of elections is turning his attention to new locations on the North and Northwest sides.
“Our goal is to be within five miles of any voter within the county of an early voting site, so we’ll continue looking at new sites as we go forward in future elections,” said Holland.
Looking ahead to Election Day this Tuesday, the supervisor wants to remind voters their precincts may have changed, so it’s a good idea to check your status before you head out to vote Tuesday to make sure your location hasn’t.
You can check your registration status here.
