By St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes
The Nov. 8 General Election in St. Johns County was a success with 64.8 percent of registered voters turning out to vote.
Here’s how the votes were cast:
31,673 Vote-by-mail Ballots
54,180 Early Voting Ballots
59,118 Election Day Ballots
A heartfelt thank you to the incredible elections team of approximately 500 staff and volunteers it took to conduct the election. This included front desk staff, warehouse staff, voting technicians, poll workers, vote-by-mail staff, IT and GIS staff, temporary staff, and our community partners who allowed their locations to be used as polling places. We are so grateful for your dedication and service to St. Johns County and our community.
Our polling places were busy places on election day. All locations were fully staffed with workers and plenty of ballots. Upon opening, many of our locations had lines, but that is normal with so many voters stopping by to vote on their way to work. Our poll workers really appreciated voter patience throughout the day as they worked diligently to process votes and get them in and out as quickly as possible. A few of our locations even had lines at 7 p.m., but every voter in line was able to cast their ballot before heading home for the night and one location even stayed until 7:45 p.m. to ensure every vote was cast.
Eight of our precincts processed over 2,000 voters on election day. Some of our busiest election day locations included:
2,414 voters at Village Church, 4229 Pacetti Road, St. Augustine
2,387 voters at Celebration Lutheran Church, 810 Roberts Road, St. Johns
2,327 voters at St. Francis in the Field, 895 Palm Valley Road, Ponte Vedra Beach
2,191 voters at The Clubhouse at Beacon Lake, 850 Beacon Lake Pkwy, St. Augustine
2,158 voters at Switzerland Community Church, 2179 State Road 13 N., St. Johns
2,058 voters at Good News Church, 1357 Wildwood Drive, St. Augustine
2,028 voters at RiverHouse at RiverTown, 140 Landing St., St. Johns
2,010 voters at The Palencia Club, 600 Palencia Club Drive, St. Augustine
Congratulations to those who won their elections and will begin their terms soon. There were many long hours put in on the campaign trail so I know there were a lot of weary people happy to see 7 p.m. arrive on Nov. 8; however, our work at the Elections Office never ends. We will take a short break for the holidays, but 2023 is our year of planning for the 2024 elections and implementing new list maintenance laws to improve the accuracy of our voter rolls.
There will be three elections in 2024 including the March Presidential Preference Primary, the August Primary and the November General Election. With such a busy year, we cannot start planning soon enough to ensure St. Johns County voters have safe, accessible, and successful elections. I sincerely hope you and your loved ones enjoy a peaceful holiday season. We will see you again in 2023 with more election news!
