Early voting for the November 5, 2024 presidential election will take place October 18-29 in Louisiana. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana set a new record for the first day of early voting, slightly higher than the total set four years ago, when officials had to take action against the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 176,882 voters cast ballots for the Nov. 5 election on Friday, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. That’s up 1.3% compared to the 174,533 votes cast on the first day of early voting in the 2020 election.
This year’s early voting period in Louisiana ends Oct. 29, with polls open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Sundays.
Early voting has been available in Louisiana since 2008. Turnout by party has historically tilted heavily in favor of Democrats, who have made up about half or more of the state’s early voters in each of the past four presidential elections.
However, Republicans had a slight lead on the first day of early voting this year. They received a total of 75,455 votes against 74,311 for the Democrats. ‘Other’ voters accounted for 27,166 votes.
Another early trend: In Louisiana, many more women voted early than men, with 102,178 showing up on the first day. That was 31% more than their male counterparts.
Black voter turnout in Louisiana was lower on the first day than four years ago. They cast a quarter of all votes on Friday, compared to nearly a third in 2020. Throughout the early part of 2020, Black voters made up nearly 30% of all voters.
The high figure for a very early voting period in Louisiana was achieved four years ago with 986,428 for the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Louisiana’s gubernatorial elections have drawn far fewer people during the early voting period compared to presidential election years. Just under 369,000 people showed up for the October 2023 primary, which Jeff Landry won outright.
In the much closer 2019 gubernatorial election, more than 503,000 voters participated in the runoff between John Bel Edwards and Eddie Rispone, compared to about 386,000 in the primaries.
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