Group Wants More Done To Find 63,000 Inactive Duval Voters

A coalition led by a group of black ministers on Wednesday demanded to know why 63,000 inactive voters are being "disenfranchised" by the Duval County Supervisor of Elections. Interim Supervisor Bill Scheu said the voters were declared inactive because mailers sent to their last known address were returned, but that does not mean they can't vote. The Jacksonville Leadership Coalition complained at a news conference outside the elections office that not enough is being done to find these voters. "Should they not be looking to see what can we do?" Lee Harris said. The coalition also said that since the list is not available to poll workers at the early-voting locations, these eligible voters would be forced to use a provisional ballot. Of those declared inactive, 24,000 are Democratic voters, 21,000 are Republicans, 11,000 are registered independent and 3,000 listed other party affiliations. Those numbers prompted the area's top GOP official to say the coalition's complaint is illogical. "Why would the Republican Party even consider not trying to reach out to 21,000 Republicans in order to keep 24,000 Democrats from voting?," Duval GOP Chairman Michael Hightower said. [more]