🗳 Join 10,600+ of your neighbors and vote early!
Today is the last day to vote early in the Primary Election. Polls are open until 6pm!
August 18, 2024
Good morning, y’all!
The polls are currently open and welcoming voters to cast their ballots in this year’s Primary Election, where the future of Tallahassee is at stake.
Tallahassee has existed in a state of stagnancy, and even decline, for the past four years, partially due to the polarity on the City Commission. Although all of the Commissioners are members of the same party, they consistently find themselves in a 3-2 voting split. This prolonged drought of bipartisanship and rare compromise has produced widespread discontentment and made common-sense reforms, like requiring Tallahassee Utilities to establish a minimum shut-off amount, unachievable.
Maybe after this election, we’ll see some loosening of the political gridlock.
You can vote early until 6pm today
If you haven’t voted yet, you can do so at any of these 10 polling locations. Just make sure you bring valid ID with you, like your Driver’s License or Student ID. After polls close, you’ll have to wait to vote at your designated polling location. You can find that here. Keep in mind: the Courthouse polling location closes at 4pm!
Turn-out is at 18%
As of 8 a.m. this morning, 10,655 voters across the County have voted early in the Primary Election, according to data compiled by Leon County’s Supervisors of Elections Office. At a county-level, voter turn-out is nearly 18%.
Primaries typically receive 20-30% lower turnout compared to General Elections, making it even harder for uniquely qualified, yet underfunded candidates to be successful. At the very least, show up to continue competitive elections!
Side-note: I’m finally starting to have enough energy again, and a better work-life-advocacy balance, to dive back into coding and explaining politics through data. You can see some of the other visualizations I’ve made on my Facebook or Instagram.
Turnout on college campuses is exceptionally low
Precinct 1507 has one of the lowest early voter turn-outs (0.30%), with just 5 of the 1668 showing up to vote. This precinct represents the portion of FSU students that live on-campus and in/around College Town. With students on break for another week, this low turn out is to be expected, unfortunately.
Part of the reason why I ran for office two years ago was because I believed there was poor representation on the City Commission for residents from the “student-side of town” — which encompasses more than just students! There are families, low-income residents, and even recent graduates who have chosen to stay and build for themselves. While voter participation is low in these areas, it doesn’t mean that the residents who live there should have an absent or diluted voice on the Commission — which often ends up being the case because politicians feel a reduced sense of obligation to champion the priorities of those who didn’t directly contribute to them winning their seat.
Vote for overdue solutions to problems that stifle progress
Voting is a tool to place proactive, effective leaders in seats of power to progress our community and solve problems, like lack of affordable housing, inadequate public infrastructure, and the rise of violent crime. Government leaders set policy to regulate private businesses (like landlords), spend the public’s tax dollars on private and public development, and even design our park, transportation, and utility systems. Simply put, local government leaders determine the future of a community and whether it will prosper or struggle. Through voting, we have the power to influence the trajectories of our communities and help them thrive.
The next election is November 5th
In a few days, Election Season will come to a simmer, until activity ramps up again ahead of the General Election on November 5th.
Stay well and talk soon!
Shelby
I vote by mail.