BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – There will be dozens of races on the Oct. 14 primary election ballots, including governor, attorney general and treasurer. After early voting, experts found that enthusiasm for this election cycle was low, but voter turnout was still good.
Experts found that Louisiana voters felt a lack of enthusiasm at the top of the list when it came to the governor’s race. They said statewide races lacked that dynamism that Louisiana politics is known for.
Political consultant Clay Young said turnout was lower this year than four years ago and then four years before that. He’s interested to see how many of these statewide races make it to the runoff.
There are dozens of races on the Oct. 14 primary election ballots, including governor, attorney general and treasurer.
Many races have only one Democrat and if it plays out the way history has played out, Young said you would normally see a Democrat and a Republican in the runoff because the Democrat would go to the Democrat on the ballot. vote.
Because awareness is so low among candidates, even among gubernatorial candidates, he wonders how motivated people are to simply pull the lever for someone they don’t know just because he is part of their party.
He also explained what you can expect in local races.
“I think West Baton Rouge is one of the biggest, as you mentioned, because there will be a new ward president one way or another,” said political consultant Clay Young. “And this one is unique. This will take place on Saturday because there are only two candidates in the running. And then here, it’s interesting to see how the parish supports our long-time sheriff Sid Gautreaux (who) has been in office for a very long time. He is one of the most popular elected officials, not only in Louisiana, but in East Baton Rouge, in the entire Capitol region.
There are also four amendments that are completely different from each other.
There are also four amendments that are completely different from each other on the ballot.
The first two were driven by the pandemic. The First Amendment deals with elections and whether non-governmental agencies or organizations can finance elections for the state or for municipalities.
Political consultant Clay Young predicts Louisianans will support him because of all the talk about other sources participating in elections in other places.
Amendment number two concerns the protection of worship inside churches. A vote for it would give the highest level of constitutional protection to freedom of worship inside a church and force courts to enforce them when the government tries to restrict access.
A vote against would maintain the level of protection for churches where they currently are.
Young also predicts this one will be successful.
Everyone says that the participation will be very important.
Find out what you need to know before Election Day.
You can learn more about the other amendments here.
“Southern has its homecoming this weekend,” Young said. “LSU plays Auburn late in the game, I think there’s an opportunity for people to participate. What’s interesting to me is that Louisiana has about 2.9 million registered voters. We are among the highest percentage of registered voters relative to the state’s population. But our participation often leaves something to be desired. So we will see if people want to go and vote on Saturday.”
You can start voting at 7 a.m. on October 14. Polling stations close at 8 p.m. Election results are available at wafb.com and our mobile app and will be broadcast live on WAFB. The Secretary of State’s website also provides election results.
Click here to report a typo.
Copyright 2023 WAFB. All rights reserved.
