GOP dominating absentee and early voting numbers in First Coast

Early and absentee voting is in full swing with eight days to go before the primary.

If the early numbers mean anything, the local GOP base is coming out in force.

42,651 Republicans have voted by mail or done early voting so far in Baker, Duval, St. Johns, Clay and Nassau counties. All but Baker post their numbers online and refresh them on a daily basis.

That's nearly double the number of registered Democrats (23,569) who have voted by mail or done early voting so far in those same counties.

Duval County Republican Party Chairwoman Cindy Graves believes this is proof that the poll numbers showing Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump in the race for the White House are wrong.

"I do believe the poll numbers are wrong, but this is not something new [or] something that's just germane to 2016," Graves stated. "This happens every election cycle."

Graves also feels it's more in line with the bigger numbers the Republican presidential nominee has been drawing at his rallies nationwide compared to his Democrat challenger.

"I think the Republican Party is on fire," Graves said. "I haven't seen anything like this since 2004 as far as the excitement level."

She also feels some of the local races - especially the battle for Ander Crenshaw's Congress seat and Angela Corey's fight to stay on as State Attorney - are playing a big role in the GOP turnout.

There's also been 6,559 independent or other party voters in those counties who have gone to the polls early or done absentee ballots.

Absentee ballots have dominated so far, with 47,837 coming in by mail as of this morning in all First Coast counties compared to 24,928 early voters in those counties.

Duval leads the way in absentee ballots (27,995) and early voting (16,121). St. Johns is second in vote-by-mail (7,800), followed by Clay (7,363), Nassau (3,829) and Baker (850). Clay is second in early voting (4,640), followed by St. Johns (1,805), Nassau (1,371) and Baker (991).

At the party level, Republicans are dominating so far in all five counties. Duval leads the way with 22,492, followed by Clay (8,951), St. Johns (6,331), Nassau (3,784) and Baker (1,093).

17,600 registered Democrats have gone absentee or early-voted in Duval so far, followed by St. Johns (2,354), Clay (1,882), Nassau (1,063) and Baker (670).

4,032 independents and other party voters have gone absentee or early-voted in Duval so far, followed by Clay (1,171), St. Johns (921), Nassau (357) and Baker (78).

Even though those numbers are encouraging ones for the GOP, that doesn't necessarily mean all those Republicans are voting straight down the party line.

Tyler Holder - a registered Republican who attended WOKV's Hob Nob and describes himself as a millennial - is leaning towards Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, partly because he doesn't think Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in a way he thinks a commander-in-chief should.

"That's the backbone of our country," Holder added. "If you think someone is the best fit for the country... if enough people believe that and don't have [the wasted vote] mentality, anything can happen."

Judy Youngblood - an elderly woman who also came to the Hob Nob - says she jumped on board the Trump train early precisely because of the way he speaks as well as his business success.

"He told the truth whether people wanted to hear it or not and [I] loved it," Youngblood stated. "As soon as he announced... something told me that's my man."

Trump dominated the WOKV Hob Nob straw poll, taking 71% of the vote compared to 22% for Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Johnson came in at 5% and Green Party nominee Jill Stein came in at less than 1%.

A man named Herb who identified himself as a retired City of Jacksonville employee says he's also voting for Trump as well as supporting Mayor Lenny Curry's proposed half-cent sales tax extension, which would go towards paying the city's over $2 billion pension debt starting in 2030.

"Something has to be done," Herb added. "That's probably the least painful way to get it straightened out. You can only kick the can down the line so long."

Most people at the Hob Nob agreed, according to the straw poll. 64% voted "yes" and 36% voted "no" to Curry's plan, which is also known as Amendment 1 on the August 30th primary ballot.