Early Voting Shows Increase
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
The week-long parishwide, in-person early voting that ended on Tuesday shows a moderate increase in participation over 2020, according to ballots compiled by the St. Landry Parish Registrar of Voters.
Registrar Byron Stelly said that 2024 in-person results indicate 12,696 individuals cast ballots in St. Landry during the early voting period.
In the early 2020 presidential election voting, Stelly pointed out that 10,760 in-person ballots were counted.
Stelly added that the 2024 in-person, early vote count includes mail-in ballots that were received by parish Registrar officials by the Tuesday deadline.
Who Did The Voting?
A political party breakdown of the early, in-person parish results show that 5,846 Democratic Party members voted, while 5,319 of those claiming affiliation with the Republican Party cast ballots, records show.
Stelly said 2,106 persons identifying with parties other than Republican or Democrat also participated in the early parish voting.
St. Landry early voting reflected an increased number of persons who were voting for the first time, said Stelly.
“I’m basing what I say about the first-time voters on what I and my staff heard during the past week from people that were in line and voting in person,” Stelly said.
Stelly said the parish increase in early voting and the balloting interest expressed by the first-time voters were similar to a statewide trend which is so far showing record numbers.
“What we saw (with the early voting) is something I did expect (in St. Landry). I really didn’t have any definite projections on what we might see,” Stelly added.
From what he could ascertain from listening to early voters comments, Stelly said the enhanced numbers over the 2020 election were due to the Presidential race more than those candidates on the ballot for a seat in the 6th U.S. Congressional District.
Moving To The Delta Grand
Early voting was moved from the Courthouse to the Delta Grand, but Stelly said there were no problems in making that transition.
“Many of the persons we spoke with said they wouldn’t mind having the early voting done in the Delta Grand for future elections,” Stelly said.
Stelly said all necessary Delta Grand modifications which accommodated the voting machines and registration checks, were made previously by the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court in connection with handling election results.
On this Tuesday Stelly said he and his staff will be located in the Registrar’s Office, communicating with poll commissioners.
“We will assist with any troubleshooting matters that might occur at the polls in addition to counting all the absentee ballots,” Stelly said.
