18,493 St. Tammany voters cast a ballot in the Slidell casino referendum vote, with another 1,000 mail ballot early votes expected to arrive this week. That combined nearly 20,000 early votes is far above St. Tammany’s November early vote numbers, where only 12,906 people early voted.
JMC Analytics publisher John Couvillon told WWL he expects this December referendum to hit about 30% participation, compared to just 19% in November.
“Which for a runoff this late in the holiday season is very impressive to me,” said Couvillon. “Of course controversy drives turnout.”
Couvillon said right now the partisan demographics of the early voting population certainly favor the No side. The partisan split was 53% Republican, 27% Democrat, a slightly more Republican split than was seen in November.
“So when I think Republican I am thinking someone who is more likely to be allied with Christian conservatives, the Religious Right, therefore against gambling,” said Couvillon.
Couvillon said there likely aren’t many undecided voters left right now, it’s all a matter of driving turnout for both sides. The projected 30% turnout shows there’s a lot of passion about this issue right now.
“Going to the polls to vote on one issue is a little bit tougher to do than if this was say an election that was being held in conjunction with a presidential election, or US Senate race, or the governor’s race,” said Couvillon.
