Polls open for Florida primary; computer issues fixed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The polls opened Tuesday morning for Florida’s primary election day.

Two voting precincts in Duval County reported issues just after polls opened Tuesday morning. The Supervisor of Elections Office then reported at about 7:45 a.m. that all 199 polling locations in Duval County reported computer issues and were using paper registers.

A small software error caused the issue, Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan said. The issue was with the registration machine, which wasn't reading the voter's information. The issue was fixed, Hogan said.

Staff moved to paper registers because officials didn't know what the fix was going to be or how long it would take to fix, Hogan said.

Technicians are going to all precincts to fix the computers. Hogan said at noon, 94 out of the 199 polling locations were up and running. All machines were back up and running as of just before 5 p.m.

Voters are still able to vote, Hogan said. Voters who are heading to the polling sites need to have a photo ID to cast a vote.

"The only problem that the voter is going to see, is a maybe a 15-20 second delay in getting processed," Hogan said.

Florida is a closed primary, so people can only vote for their registered party.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Duval County. To find your precinct, check the Supervisor of Elections Office website. 

"I hope everybody takes time out of their day to vote, whether it’s a long line or short line. It has a big impact on the next four to possible eight years," Hogan said.

Cox Media Group