Nearly 200,000 cast early ballots in La.

BATON ROUGE— Louisiana voters are coming out in unprecedented numbers to cast early ballots for the general election, shattering all previous records as the early voting period nears its end Tuesday.
Nearly 200,000 people and counting had voted by Monday, according to the Secretary of State’s office, which handles elections. By comparison, 128,000 people early voted in the 2004 presidential race, and just under 141,000 showed up in advance of last year’s statewide contests, which included the governor’s race.
Voters have faced waits of up to several hours and traffic has remained steady day after day at parish registrar of voters offices and a handful of satellite sites. The wait was anywhere between 45 minutes and three hours in Orleans Parish, said registrar Sandra Wilson as she scanned the crowd outside her door late last week. The line stretched the equivalent of a city block.
Early voting, which started Oct. 20, ends at 6 p.m. Tuesday, a week before the Nov. 4 election.
Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said lines in the last week likely foreshadow a strong turnout on Election Day — perhaps as much as 70 percent of the 2.9 million people registered. Voters should likely be prepared for waits unlike what they’re used to at their polling places.
Dardenne attributes much of the interest to the presidential race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama — even though McCain holds a substantial lead in Louisiana, according to independent polls.
In heavily Democratic New Orleans, throngs of people have cast early ballots, a crush triggered by interest in the Obama-McCain faceoff.
“Barack is causing a lot of stir!” said Avis Brock, a “proud Democrat” and youth development director at the Dryades YMCA. She was near the back of the line Friday with a long wait in front of her.
“I wouldn’t be standing in this line if it wasn’t for Barack,” she said.
As the granddaughter of the deceased New Orleans civil rights leader Avery Alexander, she found it electrifying to cast a vote for the first black presidential candidate. She talked about Alexander being famously dragged up City Hall steps in an attempt to integrate the building’s cafeteria.
“My grandfather was drug up these steps so people like us could exercise the right to vote,” she said.
Besides the presidential contest, at the top of the ticket in Louisiana is a closely watched U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu and Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy. Also, the state has several contested congressional races, including the Democratic primary run-off involving indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson in New Orleans.
Turnout so far largely mimics the racial breakdown of voters. About 64 percent of early voters were white, and 32 percent were black.
More Republicans and Democrats have cast ballots than independents, a possible indication that independent voters have yet to make up their minds.
Turnout has been strong around the state, but early voting in East Baton Rouge Parish dwarfs all others, with more than 21,000 people casting ballots at four sites by Monday. On the ballot is a nearly $1 billion tax increase proposal and the heavily divided 6th Congressional District race.