By St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes
Happy New Year, St. Johns County voters! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends. We are excited about what 2023 has in store for the Supervisor of Elections Office. While there are no elections scheduled this year, we are still going to be very busy changing our processes to comply with new laws which just took effect, updating voter rolls, and providing voter education.
We will also spend a significant amount of time this year recruiting new poll workers in preparation for the 2024 elections. We currently have about 475 poll workers on the roster, but as with any workforce, there is constant change as some workers retire and new faces join our team. The continual growth in the county also necessitates more workers as we expect between 240,000 and 250,000 registered voters to participate in the Nov. 5, 2024 Presidential General Election in St. Johns County.
Our goal in 2023 is to increase our workforce and communication with poll workers to ensure they have the information they need to be prepared when training begins in January 2024. Want to join the elections team? Visit www.votesjc.com and fill out a poll worker application to be considered for poll worker and election technician positions.
This year will also be a good time for vote-by-mail voters to request their ballots for the 2024 elections. Due to a change in the law, all vote-by-mail ballot requests on file this year expired following the November 2022 election. If you vote by mail, please visit www.votesjc.gov to check your voter status and make your request for 2024 if you wish to continue to vote-by-mail. Vote-by-mail remained one of our most popular voting methods in 2022 and we want to ensure it remains available for any voter who wants to use this convenient option to cast their vote.
We have also resumed Elections Office tours this year. If you are interested in learning the facts about how elections are conducted locally and in Florida, visit the Office Tours page on our website, www.votesjc.gov/office-tours, to see scheduled dates and times and book your tour. If you have a small group who would like to schedule a tour, please contact our office and we will be happy to make arrangements.
We will also spend a significant amount of time next year preparing for a busy 2024 when we will hold three elections, including a Presidential Preference Primary on March 19, a Primary on Aug. 20, and a General Election on Nov. 5. Generally speaking, it takes about four months of planning, communication, and execution to hold an election. So, we’re preparing to be in election mode for the entirety of 2024!
