When you consider all of the obstacles that had to be overcome in order for Louisiana residents have their voices heard at the polls yesterday I'd say the state of Louisiana and the Secretary of State's office did a pretty good job. Based on reports that haven't materialized about troubles at Louisiana polling places it certainly appears as if yesterday's election ran about as smoothly as officials could hope.

When you factor in the ongoing pandemic and three different landfalling hurricanes in the past two and half months, one of them just barely over a week ago. I'd say our state's election process certainly was up to the task at hand.

Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin's office has offered some statistics on the November 3rd election and I am proud to say that voter turnout was where it needed to be. Ardoin's office officially lists turnout at 69.4%. While that still means that three in ten Louisiana residents didn't bother to vote, the fact that seven in ten did is encouraging.

The Secretary of State's office released figures about the election and here is how Louisiana voted. 817,961 voters cast a ballot during early voting, 167,824 voters cast an absentee ballot and 1,161,528 voters exercised their right to vote on Election Day. This total turnout of 2,147,313 represents a 69.4% turnout, exactly within the official projection of 69-71%. 54.1% of voters exercised their right to vote in-person on election day, while 38.1% voted early and 7.8% voted absentee.

Here is the entire Press Release sent out by Secretary Ardoin's office early this morning:

SECRETARY OF STATE PROVIDES RECAP OF NOVEMBER 3RD ELECTION 

AND UPDATE ON VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES 

BATON ROUGE, La. — Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin releases the following statement following the unofficial results of the Presidential election:

“I couldn’t be more pleased with our Louisiana presidential election,” Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said. “This year presented unprecedented challenges, from a pandemic to three hurricanes, but we came together with our election partners to pull off a successful election.”

817,961 voters cast a ballot during early voting, 167,824 voters cast an absentee ballot and 1,161,528 voters exercised their right to vote on Election Day. This total turnout of 2,147,313 represents a 69.4% turnout, exactly within the official projection of 69-71%. 54.1% of voters exercised their right to vote in-person on election day, while 38.1% voted early and 7.8% voted absentee.

Despite the recent challenges forced upon the state by a global pandemic as well as Hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta, we did not experience any difficulties outside of the usual scope of election day issues.

As a reminder, the mail and in-person registration deadline for the December 5 Congressional Runoff Election is Wednesday, November 4. The online registration deadline is Saturday, November 14. This deadline is for citizens who are unregistered, as well as registered voters who would like to make changes to their registration. Citizens can check their registration or register to vote online at www.GeauxVote.com. In order to submit electronically, a Louisiana driver's license or Louisiana special ID card must be used.

 

After registering, voters should download the GeauxVote Mobile smartphone app which provides registration information as well as voting districts, sample ballots, polling place information, and election results.

For more information, contact the Elections Division by calling 1-800-883-2805 or emailing elections@sos.la.gov.

www.sos.la.gov -

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