Flooding may impact November voter turnout

Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler says he is concerned that the massive flood destruction may cause the Nov. 8 general election voter turnout in the three hardest hit parishes – East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension – to be lower than past years.
But the state’s chief election officer remains optimistic.
“My letter to voters will acknowledge these tough times and more pressing things. If we can keep (voting) down to a 10-minute experience while they’re going to get lumber or supplies, at the end of the day they will feel better about it.”
The East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk’s office is assessing the status of polling places in the area and identifying new locations for those that won’t be up and running by Nov. 8, according to public information officer Fred Sliman.
“We’re going to try to move as few as possible,” he said, noting that of the rough estimate of the 20 polling stations affected by flood waters his office will have to relocate at least half of them.
Vanessa Barnett, elections director at the Livingston Parish Clerk of Court’s office, says that parish will have to move nine polling locations comprising 19 precincts, and new locations are being secured.
Ascension Parish Clerk of Court Bridget Hanna noted that seven polling locations in the parish that have been affected by flooding, six of which are schools. Hanna said she and a school board member are assessing those sites and soon will make a decision on whether any have to be moved, and if so, where.
Hanna said once the information is turned over to the Ascension Parish Registrar of Voters that office would send out cards to voters with information about any changes.
“Everything’s going to work out. The Secretary of State Office has been a big help to us.”
In EBR Parish, Sliman said affected locations include schools, churches and BREC parks, while Barnett said Livingston Parish is dealing with damaged schools and town halls. None of these parishes has announced specific changes as yet.
EBR Parish Registrar of Voters Steve Raborn said polling place changes occur normally every year because facilities become unavailable for a variety of reasons, but they usually don’t have so many at once.
Raborn said plans are in place to present polling location changes to the East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council for approval by the council’s first meeting in October. He noted that the Council must typically approve location changes unless there’s an emergency situation where there isn’t necessarily time.
Because these changes are far enough in advance, Raborn said, the EBR Registrar of Voters office also plans to send out cards to voters who have a polling place change once new locations are secured.
Livingston Parish Registrar of Voters Jared Andrews, whose office also sends out new cards in this situation, said the Clerk’s Office usually provides staff at the old polling stations with signage directing voters to the new locations.
While they acknowledge the flood’s effects on their parishes, Sliman, Raborn and Andrews believe voters will still participate in this election, especially with alternative voting options, early voting and mail ballots. Schedler also said he urges residents to take part in early voting and mail ballots.
“People (who are) not sure what’s going on (or) where to go — they will probably come early vote, and we’re ready to handle that,” Andrews said.
Schedler said early voting numbers can act as a barometer for what Election Day turnout will be. He also believes this election year is unique. Aside from the flooding, he said this is one of the more bizarre elections on a national level he has seen.
“Normally I would look at historic data and be able to tell you this is what’s happened in the last four presidential elections. You can just throw that data out the window. You couple that in this area with the flooding issue, [and] I just don’t know how people are going to respond.”
Schedler underscored that some parishes will have elections happening at the local level that could also affect voter turnout.
“You may have a 70 percent voter turnout in a high-contested area because of mayor’s race or a local congressional seat versus another area that just has the Presidential ballot on it.”
There is also a plan in place for those residents who may be temporarily living at a different location. Schedler said they’re urging individuals to refrain from changing their voter registration but instead send in their current change of address.
“If they’re moved from Livingston to St. Tammany, for example, we can send the ballot to St. Tammany to that temporary address,” Schedler said. “Wherever they are, we’ll send it there, so they’re not trying to get it out of a mailbox or a postal service here. We’ll send it to you there and you can just mail it from there.”
This process is the same as if an individual were casting an absentee ballot by mail, according to Meg Casper, the press secretary at the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. Addresses should be sent to the Registrar of Voters office in the parish where an individual is registered. These ballots must be requested by 4:30 p.m. on the fourth day before the Nov. 8 election and must be received by 4:30 p.m. the day before the election.
The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election is Oct. 11, while early voting is conducted from Oct. 25 until Nov. 1, excluding Sundays and government holidays.
“Voting may be the last thing on their mind,” Schedler said, “but we want to try to make the experience as simple and as non-intrusive as we can to allow people to still go exercise their right to vote for this important election.”
Schedler said residents can also check the GeauxVote app or www.sos.la.gov for updates.