For citizens residing in East Baton Rouge Parish who need to absentee vote for the September 18 election, the clock is winding down.
“Voters will have until 4:30 p.m. on September 11 to absentee vote,” said Sharon Bankston, chief deputy registrar of voters for East Baton Rouge Parish. “We are expecting big numbers. On the first day alone, we ended the day with a total of 831 voters and expect more in the upcoming days.”
Bankston said that absentee voting for the parish began on the morning of September 7 and over 2,000 people were estimated to have absentee voted on the first two days alone.
The issue of absentee voting has become more prevalent in recent elections, but particularly in the September 18 election since last year’s November 15 election, which included the state’s gubernatorial run-off.
According to Bankston, 10,119 people were recorded to have absentee voted in the election as Democratic candidate Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Bobby Jindal, a Republican, did their last minute campaigning. Blanco was projected as the new governor by just a 4-percent margin as registered voters who were traveling fans of Southern University and Louisiana State University were at away games watching their teams play in Houston and Tuscaloosa, Ala., respectively.
This year, Southern will be in Houston again to face Prairie View A&M and LSU will be back in Alabama to face the University of Auburn, while East Baton Rouge Parish determines who will be its mayor-president.
Although there was a strong turnout for the governor’s race, Bankston said that in last year’s October 4 primary election, only 5,672 people absentee voted. While the primaries consisted of the gubernatorial, lieutenant governor and secretary of state races, she said that the low numbers were due to a lack of concern for “smaller scaled politics.”
“Most people that absentee vote, such as military personnel or those working elsewhere, are interested in the big elections such as the governor or presidential elections,” she said. “But they aren’t interested in the smaller ones such as the local or primary elections.”
Candidates across the state have taken notice to the effect that absentee voting could have on the election. One is state senator Cleo Fields (D-Baton Rouge). His name will be on the September 18 ballot for the Louisiana Public Service Commission District Three seat and he is urging the public in his current campaign ads to absentee vote if they are going to the games.
“Well, it’s just so important that people get out and vote absentee,” Fields said. “That’s why we have such an aggressive effort on Southern’s campus. The Jaguar Nation supports their team and I’m not going to be naïve to think they are going to be here waiting for the polls to open; they’re going to be on their way to Texas.”
In addition to the mayor-president and LPC seating, East Baton Rouge Parish voters will go to the polls to choose on an amendment concerning same-sex marriages, other city and judicial leadership positions (including nine Metro councilpersons) and fire-tax propositions.
For those who do not reside in East Baton Rouge Parish, voters should go to their respective parish or county and state Web sites for more information.
WHERE TO ABSENTEE VOTE
If you reside in East Baton Rouge Parish, you can absentee vote one of these three locations:
East Baton Rouge Parish Registrar of Voters Office
Governmental Building, Room 201
222 St. Louis St.
Court Plaza Building
Room 203
10500 Coursey Blvd.
Office of Motor Vehicles
2250 Main Street
Call (225) 389-3940 for more information or log on to www.brgov.com