Voter turnout may be 35% to 40%

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Sep 30, 2008 - Page: 7A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Louisiana election’s chief  on Monday predicted a 35 percent to 40 percent voter turnout for Saturday’s balloting around the state, with party congressional races fueling interest in four areas and key local elections in others.

Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said voter interest seems to be highest in East Baton Rouge Parish, where there are contested races for mayor, district attorney, Metro Council and judgeships. Unlike in some areas, there’s no congressional election on Saturday’s ballot in East Baton Rouge Parish. Candidates for the Baton Rouge-based 6th Congressional District won’t square off until the Nov. 4 presidential election.

So, Dardenne said, local elections prompted 6,832 East Baton Rouge voters to cast ballots in advance of Saturday’s election — by far the most in any parish in the state.

Orleans Parish followed with 3,322 advance voters, then Tangipahoa with 3,164, Dardenne said.

Early voting, which ran for seven days, ended Sept. 27.

Elections are scheduled Saturday in all but two parishes — Cameron and Terrebonne, where they have been postponed until Nov. 4 because of hurricane recovery.

Dardenne told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that early voting is growing in popularity.

Four years ago, 41,815 people participated in five days of early voting in advance of October elections, Dardenne said. This time around, 70,899 people opted to vote early over a seven-day period, he said.

“It’s significantly higher percentage-wise … You are going to see a dramatic increase in early voting. It’s becoming a matter of convenience for them to get their vote in before election day,” Dardenne said.

Allowing early voting in locations other than parish registrar of voters offices and closer to where people live has caught on in areas where the program is being piloted, he said.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, for instance, more voters traveled to the State Archives Building on Essen Lane last week than to the downtown registrar’s office, he said.

“Remote sites are going to be popular,” Dardenne said.

Today, the Archives Building is one of four satellite locations in the state where people can take advantage of early voting. Others are in the Sulphur City Hall in Calcasieu Parish, a vo-tech school in Bogalusa in Washington Parish and a state museum in Ouachita Parish.