Election Tuesday; Presidential, state, local races on ballots

While people across the nation are focused today on who will become the next president, St. Mary voters will also narrow the field or select officeholders in state and local races and determine the fate of proposed constitutional amendments.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m. To find your polling place and sample ballot, visit http://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Pages/default.aspx.
Voters’ ballots include candidates for president, U.S. senate, U.S. representative in 3rd Congressional District and six state constitutional amendments. Some voters will also decide who will be on the Morgan City council in districts 2, 3 and 4.
As of Monday, 6,985 of 33,430 registered St. Mary Parish voters, 20.9 percent, had voted early or by mail-in ballot. In-person early voting ended Nov. 1.
Turnout for most elections in the past few years has been way lower than the 70 percent for the 2012 presidential election, Parish Registrar Jolene Holcombe said. Holcombe hopes, “with all the interest and craziness surrounding this election,” the parish reaches 70 percent turnout.
Due to record early voting totals in St. Mary, it’s not a stretch to get another 49 percent, Holcombe said. Some rain in Tuesday’s forecast “could put a little damper on things,” though, she said.
Parish Clerk of Court Cliff Dressel serves as the chief election official for the parish and is in charge of placing the voting machines in each precinct, and opening the machines and closing them at the end of voting, Dressel said.
Returns from the east end of the parish are brought to the clerk’s Morgan City office from Calumet to Amelia and Franklin receives returns from Jeanerette to Calumet, Dressel said.
“Those cards just go right into a machine, and the total goes to the secretary of state’s office,” Dressel said.
Holcombe’s role on election night is to make sure all the early and absentee votes are counted and to get the results out for 8 p.m. The parish board of election supervisors is part of that process, and in St. Mary, board commissioners count the absentee and early votes, she said.
Holcombe supervises that process and assists as necessary. The absentee totals are the first results reported on election night.
All results are loaded into the Louisiana secretary of state’s system and results can be viewed in live time at www.geauxvote.com. Results are not certified as official until three days after the election. They are considered unofficial until that time, Holcombe said.