NEW ORLEANS, La. (WGNO)- 2020 is a big election year and already, election officials are seeing new trends at the polls.
Early voting, which ended Saturday for the August 15 election to fill a vacancy at the first city court, saw something unusual. More mail-in votes than in-person voting.
“That’s encouraging. It’s like a preview of what’s going to happen in November. We like to see that. We like to see more and more people vote,” shared Arthur Morrell, Orleans Clerk of Criminal District Courts, Chief Election Officer.
“Per usual, there more black voters participated than white voters,” shared Morrell. “Twice as many females votes than male,” said Morrell. “So, that’s an indication that there is a lot of activities for a runoff, and that is good. We like to see that. There were more women who voted than men. Which is good means there is lots of movement for a runoff.”
Total this go round, more than 9,300 voters cast their ballot; 4,910 voted by mail and 4,487 in person.
“More people now see it’s safer, easier and so they are deciding to vote by mail no. So, that’s good,” said Morrell.
There are new safety precautions in place for in-person voting, like additional cleaning and social distancing. Even though those measures are in place, Morrell tells us voters are leaning toward mail-in ballots because of the pandemic.
“We expect more absentee ballots but, we are going to stick with our precautions,” explained Morrell. “We are going to meet to decide how many people we need to count those absentee ballots and we are looking at what’s projected.”
Eligible voters have until Tuesday at 4:30 pm to request an absentee ballot for the next election.
