After complaints about eliminating the only primary election early voting site with a history of drawing more Democrat voters than Republicans, the Volusia County supervisor of elections will reinstitute it for the general election.
The Julia and Charles Cherry Cultural and Educational Center, 925 George Engram Boulevard in Daytona Beach, is among eight early voting sites set to open on Oct. 21, ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The others are at libraries in Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, community centers in Port Orange, DeBary and Deltona and the election supervisor’s office in DeLand.
The Midtown site first became an early voting site in 2020. But before this year’s primary election, Elections Supervisor Lisa Lewis dropped it in favor of the Florence K. Little Town Hall in DeBary,
In 2020, Donald Trump won in each of DeBary’s precincts, and 66% of the voters who turned out in the DeBary early voting site were Republicans.
The 2024 DeBary primary turnout, 700, was better than the Midtown site in the 2022 primary, when 568 people voted, with 82% of those casting ballots being Democrats.
Lewis, who is a Republican, said the Midtown site was first opened in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“We haven’t had the turnout there, so we did opt to close it, and that was talked about when we first opened it,” Lewis said. “But there really has been a cry that people do want us to give it another try.”
Jewel Dickson, the Volusia County Democratic Party chairwoman, said she was among those urging Lewis to reconsider closing the Midtown early voting site.
“There was enough community pressure from different groups that she looked at it and said, ‘OK, we’ll go back and do it again.’” Dickson said, adding that she believes Lewis was “kind of pushed into that decision” by Republicans, although she clarified: “I don’t know that. … I just had a feeling that she was under pressure.”
Lewis said when she reviews early voting sites, she has to consider numerous things, including making sure the sites geographically “cover the county.” There are also restrictions on where early voting may occur, with most sites needing to be in public places such as libraries and community centers.
“When I look at sites, I don’t look at the party of people, the ethnicity of people. I simply look at the numbers. They weren’t there. And it costs a lot of money for an early voting site, but we’re going to open it back up. That’s what they want in the community, and we’re going to do it.”
Each additional early voting site during the general election is open for 13 days from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. She said the costs for each early voting site run from $7,500 to $10,000, and those sites are limited, as they can only be located in public buildings such as libraries and community centers.
Susanne Raines, the Volusia County Democratic committeewoman, was among people applauding Lewis for reopening the Midtown site.
“Reopening that early voting location was a smart move because turnout in November is going to be big,” Raines said.
A News-Journal analysis of 2024 primary election early voting sites in Florida’s 67 counties showed Volusia had the 12th lowest number per capita, with 1.2 per 100,000 people. Polk County had the lowest per capita total, with 0.2 per 100,000. Calhoun and Franklin − two of Florida’s smaller counties with 13,000 populations − tied for the most, with 15.4 per 100,000.
Early voting is just one of three methods used in Florida. Voters can go to more local polling places on election day or vote by mail. In the primary, more Volusia voters opted the mail option than going to early voting and election day combined.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach advocates successfully lobby for 8th early voting site
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