With two full days of early voting for the October 14 gubernatorial primary election in the books, voters appear to be less motivated.
JMC Analytics Pollster John Couvillon says 118,000 people casted a ballot on Saturday and Monday, down from 122,000 for the same time period in 2019, and more Republicans than Democrats.
“The fact that Republicans actually outnumber Democrats after two days that does not typically happen in Louisiana,” said Couvillon.
The state has 2.9 million registered voters and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 146,000. But Couvillon says through two days of early voting more registered Republicans are showing up to the polls than Democrats
“Between Saturday and Monday night, 44 percent is Republican and 42 percent is Democrat, and that number also includes a stack of mail-in voters and they tend to be more Democratic,” Couvillon said.
The Louisiana Secretary of State’s office says voter turnout for a gubernatorial primary is usually in the mid-40s, but Couvillon says based on the first two days of early voting, the turnout could be lower than that.
“My gut feeling is telling me 40 percent turnout, but if in-person voting keeps lagging from what it was in 2019, I may need to revise that prediction downward towards the mid-thirties,” he said.
