EBR leads in early balloting

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Oct 25, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Early voting across Louisiana for the Nov. 4 election is on a record-setting pace, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said Friday.

With four days down and three to go, 137,223 people voted in advance of the election, Dardenne’s accounting shows.

East Baton Rouge Parish voters topped the parish-by-parish numbers with 16,671 with three days to go in the week of early voting.
Early voting continues today with locations open from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

“It absolutely dwarfs the turnout in the governor’s race last year and is frankly exceeding my expectations,” Dardenne said. “We are on track to exceed 200,000 (early voters) and maybe 250,000.”

There are 2.9 million voters eligible to participate in the election in which the presidential race tops the ballot.

With today, Monday and Tuesday to go, the current early voting totals are just shy of the final totals in the governor’s race.

In the 2007 governor’s race, 140,933 early ballots were cast in advance of the October primary, which Republican Bobby Jindal won, according to state elections data. The early voting ran for seven days just like that preceding the current election.

In addition, there are already more early voters or absentee voters than in advance of the 2004 presidential race.

The early voting occurred over five days and 128,460 people participated, according to state elections records.

The Nov. 4 early voting surpassed that mark on day four.

“Obviously, looking at statewide and Baton Rouge, the presidential election is generating a great deal of interest. It happens every presidential year, but there seems to be a much greater interest and involvement,” Dardenne said.

Louisiana is not considered a swing state in the presidential contest between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, Dardenne said. But that has not stopped voter interest, he said.

Dardenne said the number of early ballots could translate into a higher turnout than the 65 percent to 70 percent he projects for Election Day.