There was an early voting frenzy for the general election last month. For the runoff election the enthusiasm to choose the direction of our state and nation has certainly subsided.

Voters flocked to cast their ballot in near record number when the Presidential race was on the line but now that there are only a few races to consider it appears is if most of the populace is quite content to let someone else choose our leaders for the next few years.

Secretary of State Tom Schedler told the Louisiana Radio Network that Registrar of Voter offices across the state are seeing a combined 22-thousand voters on an average day for the runoff elections. That would be about 10-thousand fewer voters per day compared to the general election.

He is speculating that the turnout for the runoff elections will be significantly less than the numbers we saw for the November election.

But I’m leaning more down to that lower end at the 35 if not even south of that, maybe somewhere between 32-35, so it is low voter turnout.

When you consider that the turnout for the general election was 68% you can see the incredible disparity in who really cares about the state and the nation.

Secretary Schedler also noted that there appear to be more male voters than female voters casting ballots early. This is a little unusual when compared to other elections.

And we’ve seen a low voter turnout on the African American side so all those things point to the south, negative but none the less we need to look cautiously optimistic.

Early voting continues across the state today and Saturday. The polls will be open from 8:30 AM until 6:00 PM for both days.

 

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