Early voting sets Avoyelles record

With two days left to vote early, and five days remaining to request a mail-in absentee ballot, almost 17 percent of Avoyelles Parish voters have already voted.
As of the end of the day Saturday, 4,147 votes had been cast in the Nov. 3 elections. Of that number, 3,317 were in-person at the Registrar of Voters Office in the courthouse in Marksville and 830 were mail-in ballots that had been received. There are approximately 400-500 more mail-in ballots expected, and voters have until Thursday to request one. Mail-in ballots must be received in the Registrar's Office by Nov. 2 to be counted in the Nov. 3 election.
Registrar Gloria Moreau said this election has set records for early and absentee voting.
"We would say, 'This is the most voters we've had in a single day' and the next day we would have even more," Moreau said Saturday as a steady line of voters filed through her courthouse office.
For comparison, for all of the 2016 Presidential election there were 3,205 early/absentee votes -- 2,851 in person and 354 by mail. In 2012 there were 2,342 total votes (2,066 in-person, 276 by mail) and in 2008 there were 1,893 (1,661 in-person, 232 by mail).
Concern over the threat of COVID-19 is a major factor in the mail-in balloting increase.