Duval elections office reports outreach gains, details petition costs and reviews commercial voter-roll tool

Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland told the Elections Advisory Panel on a September meeting date that his office has used an unexpected election “off year” to expand outreach, to tighten internal procedures and to prepare for the 2026 election calendar.

Holland said the office’s education and outreach division — led by Jennifer Casey, director of education and community outreach — has hosted “113 events so far,” including naturalization ceremonies, high‑school registration drives and demonstrations of accessible voting equipment. Justin Giacalone, an elections staff member, gave party and registration totals and outlined recent list‑maintenance work.

The outreach push, Holland and Casey said, included registering thousands of new voters at community events and schools, recruiting and training poll workers, producing flyers and accessibility materials, and instituting written standard operating procedures for office functions that previously existed mainly in staff knowledge. The office also plans to create a Duval County Elections Museum next spring to broaden public education.

Why it matters: The office says the expanded outreach and new internal controls are designed to improve voter access and strengthen public trust before the August 2026 gubernatorial/primary cycle. Panel members pressed staff for details about list maintenance, new state requirements for initiative petitions and whether commercial data tools should be used to flag potential ineligible registrations.

Outreach, recruitment and training

Casey said her team has staged 113 events this year, has led 10 tours of the election center, performed nine naturalization ceremonies, and registered students and seniors at schools, assisted‑living facilities and senior centers. She said the office collected a total of 2,471 voter‑registration applications at events this year, of which 2,301 were new registrations and 170 were updates. Casey said 31 high‑school events registered about 1,787 students and that roughly 70% of community‑event registrants were listed as no party affiliation.

Casey also described recruitment work for poll workers, including a “bring a buddy” tour that yielded about 22 recruits and a targeted push that added 22 deputies for high‑need precincts. The office said it now tracks veteran status on poll‑worker applications and has recruited bilingual poll workers in 12 languages.

Voter rolls, mail ballots and list maintenance

Justin Giacalone reported that active voter rolls in Duval County totalled 652,479. He said, “Since January 2025… we had a total of 20,208 voters go to inactive,” attributing the changes to National Change of Address updates, county mailings and other standard maintenance processes. Giacalone said about half of the countywide mailing responses confirm updated addresses and that some inactive voters later update their address and return to active status.

On vote‑by‑mail, Giacalone said the office had 9,632 active vote‑by‑mail requests at the time of the briefing and expected that number to rise as the 2026 season begins.

Budget, lease and operations

Giacalone provided a fiscal preview: the supervisor’s office budget for the coming fiscal year tied to the August gubernatorial/primary cycle is $9,409,337. Holland said the office expects to return roughly $300,000 of unspent funds for the current fiscal year. Holland also notified the panel that a 10‑year lease for the elections center has been renewed, and the office will make tenant improvements including added security and updated training and ballot‑storage spaces.

Initiative petitions and state law changes

Holland and staff reviewed recent state law changes affecting initiative petitions and the office’s costs for verifying petition signatures. Holland said the new requirements — which he identified as House Bill 1250 in the meeting — mean the office must perform additional verification steps and mail notices to petition signers, increasing per‑petition processing costs. Holland said the office estimated a new cost per initiative petition of “somewhere between probably $3 and $3.50 per petition,” up from roughly $1 previously, and that the county will publish its cost calculations as required. He emphasized the moratorium that prevented counties from processing petitions until October 1 while some parts of the law remain subject to court challenges.

Commercial data products and “Eagle AI”

Panel members raised a commercial product sometimes labeled “Eagle AI” (also discussed as Eagle Eye/Eagle) that markets algorithms to surface potentially ineligible registrations. A panel member characterized the product as a commercial tool rather than a government program; the office said it would research which other Florida counties, if any, were using the product and report back.

Jennifer, Justin and Holland described Duval’s existing list‑maintenance practices — checks against state files (including deceased‑voter and felony records), National Change of Address data and county mailings — and said they would treat any third‑party list as investigatory leads only. Panel members warned of algorithmic bias and of the reputational hazards of relying on unvetted commercial lists.

Artificial intelligence and elections work

Panel discussion distinguished rule‑based algorithmic matching from what some speakers called “AI.” Holland and staff said the county has limited AI use to city‑approved tools (for example, chat functions and Copilot) and that any broader technical integration would require review of city IT policies and state guidance. Members asked whether AI could speed administrative checks; staff said any use would have to comply with state data rules and the division of elections’ protocols.

Counting methods and hand recounts

Panel members asked whether hand counting ballots would be a feasible alternative to machine counting. Holland explained that hand counting at Duval’s scale would be far slower and costlier: the office estimated hand counting would require thousands of additional temporary workers and weeks to complete, would complicate chain‑of‑custody procedures and would not necessarily improve accuracy. Holland described the county’s existing auditing and test procedures used to validate machine counts.

Internal controls and standard operating procedures

Holland said the office has written 51 standard operating procedures across divisions to memorialize payroll, staffing, outreach and other duties that previously existed mainly in staff knowledge. The SOP effort was described as part of continuity planning and cross‑training to reduce risks from turnover.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve the March meeting minutes — outcome: approved (voice vote recorded as "Aye"; roll‑call tally not specified in the meeting transcript). - Motion to approve the June meeting minutes — outcome: approved (voice vote recorded as "Aye"; roll‑call tally not specified in the meeting transcript).

What’s next

Staff said they will continue to refine petition‑verification cost estimates, pursue poll‑worker recruitment and bilingual staffing, expand public‑education tours and finalize the elections center tenant improvements. The office will report back to the panel after researching the commercial voter‑roll tool that was discussed.

Sources: Statements and data presented by Jerry Holland (Duval County Supervisor of Elections), Jennifer Casey (director of education and community outreach), and Justin Giacalone (elections staff) during the panel meeting; public comments and panel Q&A recorded in the meeting transcript.