Heavy turnout for early, absentee voting in Avoyelles

With early voting more than halfway over, and over half of requested absentee ballots received, more than 13 percent of Avoyelles Parish voters have fulfilled their civic responsibility to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 elections.

As of the close of voting Thursday (Oct. 22), 2,443 people had voted in person at the Registrar of Voters Office in the courthouse while 797 absentee ballots had been received, for a total of 3,240 votes. The parish has approximately 24,572 registered voters for the Nov. 3 election.

Early voting continues today, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at the Registrar's Office on the second floor of the courthouse in downtown Marksville. Registered voters can still request absentee ballot until 4:30 p.m. next Friday (Oct. 30). Absentee ballots must be received in the Registrar's Office by 4:30 p.m. Nov. 2.

Who's winning in Avoyelles Parish so far?

Of course, nobody knows the answer to that because the votes are secret and won't be tallied until Nov. 3 -- or later in some states.

However, available figures from the Secretary of State's Office can give us a hint as to how the balloting is most likely going. As of Thursday afternoon, 2,297 whites, (13.3% of registered white voters), 857 blacks (12.8%), and 86 other race (13.6%) had voted.

By party, 1,615 Democrats (13.7%), 1,120 Republicans (16%) and 505 Other/No parties (8.7%). Approximately 49.9 percent of the votes cast by Thursday had been by Democrats. Republicans made up 34.5 percent of the early/absentee voter count at that time while the "independents" accounted for 15.6 percent of the ballots.

So far women have been more likely to vote early than men, with a patriotic-sounding 1,776 women voting early compared to 1,461 men.

We will provide periodic updates on early voting statistics for the curious readers with a wrap up after the close of early voting on Oct. 27.