Record early voting in St. Mary

A record number of St. Mary Parish residents voted early for the Nov. 8 presidential election, which officials say may be due to the success of get-out-the vote campaigns and extreme dislike of one candidate or the other.
As of the end of early voting Tuesday, 20.5 percent of registered voters eligible for the election had already voted.
Of the 33,430 voters are eligible to vote in this election, 6,861 voters cast their ballots early, according to unofficial statistics. The final day of early voting saw 1,097 people vote in St. Mary Parish, the highest daily total.
Before this election, the parish’s highest early voting turnout for a presidential election, or any election, was the 2012 presidential election, Parish Registrar Jolene Holcombe said. In 2012, a total of 5,347 people voted early or absentee. Parish voter registration was actually higher in 2012 with 34,122 registered voters.
By race, 5,067 white voters, 1,639 black voters and 155 voters of other races cast ballots early. By sex, 3,788 female voters and 3,073 male voters voted. By party, 2,988 Democrats, 2,683 Republicans and 1,190 other-party voters cast ballots.
Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton have evoked strong negative feelings from their opponents.
“I’m not sure that people are fired up to vote because they love their candidate,” Holcombe said in an email. “I think it’s more that they really despise one candidate more than the other.”
Pearson Cross, associate professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said in an email that voter turnout has been influenced by the many voters who are “exceptionally passionate about this election” from being told that this election is the “most important election” of their lifetimes.
“Another factor driving early voting is that we are now quite comfortable with the idea of voting early, and as it becomes a regular feature of elections, more voters consider it,” Cross said.
Political parties are extremely focused on getting their supporters to the polls to ensure they cast ballots, Cross said.
Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort in Louisiana has been outsourced to the Republican National Committee and has been less efficient than the Democratic get-out-the-vote effort, Cross said.
However, Cross says Trump should still win Louisiana easily.
Holcombe said it’s hard to say whether the strong early voter turnout will carry over to Election Day.
Cross predicts about an average turnout because “both candidates have such high negatives,” he said.
Overall parish turnout for the 2012 election was 70 percent. In 2008, turnout was 68 percent.
With the high early voting totals, the parish needs roughly 50 percent turnout on Election Day to have a 70 percent turnout.
The senate and congressional races on the ballot have much less to do with early voting, though all candidates have preached the importance of voting, Cross said.
“They’ve truly been a sideshow in this overwhelmingly presidential year,” Cross said.
Christian Gil of Berwick, who serves on the state Republican Central Committee, said he’s “cautiously optimistic” by the high early voter turnout, and there’s been a lot of excitement around the presidential election.
Anna Cunningham of Morgan City, who’s on the state Democratic Central Committee, said she’s “so thankful that the people are taking interest” in the election. Cunningham voted early Tuesday and has never seen lines for early voting like she saw, she said.
Parish NAACP President Reginald Weary said he encouraged people to vote early because “you never know what could happen between now and next week,” referring to factors such as the weather on Election Day.
Many people Weary has talked to are just ready for the election to be over, and not many people are really excited about the election, he said. Still, Weary emphasized the importance of making sure people go to the polls and “let their voices be heard,” he said.