NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A local political analyst is weighing in on why so few people voted on Saturday during the primary elections, and how it may have affected the race for governor.
Political analysts are calling voter turnout abysmal, especially in Orleans Parish, where only 27% voted. Pundits believe several factors came into play as to why many voters didn’t bother to head to the polls.
“Overall, only 36% for an election that happens every four years, that is disappointing that we didn’t have a bigger turnout,” said political analyst Jeff Crouere.
He says voters were apathetic about this election statewide.
“Roughly 300,000 fewer voters came out this time than back in 2019,” he said.
Crouere says many factors played into the low voter turnout especially because the governor’s race between Republican Jeff Landry and Democrat Shawn Wilson was a blowout.
“When you don’t have a competitive race, lots of people think that he’s got it in the bag or think oh we are not going to vote if the opponent doesn’t have a chance,” he said.
He went on to say, “If you don’t have a horse race that limits the turnout as well.”
Breaking down the numbers, Landry won with 52% to Wilson’s 26% statewide. In Orleans Parish, Wilson got 71% of the vote, while Landry got 10%.
“Shawn Wilson did well in New Orleans as far as the numbers go. They just didn’t have enough voters show up,” Crouere said.
With low voter turnout, there won’t be a runoff for Governor of Louisiana.
“Even if Shawn Wilson would have made the runoff, he’d be far behind and considered an underdog,” Crouere said.
Another problem was young voters didn’t vote.
“You need to have candidates that speak to the issues of young people. It would’ve helped if the Democrats had a younger candidate, someone better on social media,” Crouere said.
He went on to say, “It is just sad to think that 64% of people didn’t bother to vote when we do this every four years and stakes are so high for Louisiana.”
There are approximately 263,000 registered voters in Orleans Parish.
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