A.G. Gancarski
Absentee voting has already started in the Duval County runoff election, and Lenny Curry wants his voters to know it, if an email from the Curry mayoral campaign is any indication.
“While the election is on May 19th, you don’t have to wait until then to vote,” the email says. “You can mail in your absentee ballot anytime before the election!”
The email includes several calls to action, including checking one’s mailbox for the ballot, checking the status of said ballot on line, and, finally, requesting an absentee ballot “so you can vote anytime you wish.”
“This runoff is critical to Jacksonville’s future. It’s down to the wire. Your vote could make all the difference,” the email says. It doesn’t note, but could, that the election between Alvin Brown and Mike Hogan four years ago came down to just 1,661 votes.
The play for absentee voters is no accident. As Florida Politics polling has indicated, the older the voter is, the more likely that voter will support the Republican over the incumbent.
Absentee voters in Duval County are disproportionately older voters, so some campaigns are making direct plays for them. Candidates such as Tommy Hazouri make the emotional appeal by hitting senior centers, a time-honored means of outreach. Email works also well and could broaden the universe of absentee voters to Curry’s advantage.
As of Sunday, there have been 423 votes cast by mail for the May election. Just 110 of them have been cast by registered Democrats. With that kind of breakdown, expect Lenny Curry to make further vote by mail plays.
