Jacksonville’s Hispanic population is underrepresented at the polls, and bipartisan efforts are aimed at changing that ahead of the state’s Oct. 7 voter registration deadline.
Hispanic voters represent as much as 13% of Jacksonville’s population yet represent less than 7% of its recent electorate.
As for which way the election could be swayed by their increased participation, it’s hard to say: Duval’s 41,650 Hispanic voters are nearly evenly split, with 34.3% registered with no party affiliation; 33.2% registered as Democrats and 28.4% registered as Republicans.
Making the effort
Joel Gonzalez does not take the right to vote for granted. He is a Venezuelan-American who moved to Jacksonville in 2017, became a U.S. citizen in 2019 and works in real estate…