Runoff election early voter turnout reached a record high in Louisiana

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin is spreading the word. Runoff election early voter turnout reached a record high in Louisiana.

Ardoin says nearly half a million voters have already checked-in.

The numbers: 498, 600 plus early voters is what the secretary of state says the early voting tally shows. Ardoin says voters are engaged.

“Whether it’s Washington politics leaking down to Louisiana making it a nationalized election people are turning out on both sides,” he said.

Nearly 62,000 more women early voted in comparison to men. According to reports, African American voters made up about 31 percent of the early voting numbers. “We could be as high as 53 percent total turnout but the end of election day on Saturday,” Ardoin stated.

Lafayette Parish Registrar of Voters Charlene Meaux Menard says she expected the high early voting numbers to happen in the primary election. “It made me happy to see a lot of people choose to come for the runoff which should have also been in the primary and every election,” Menard added.

Menard says there’s a downside. Early voting hit a snag at least in one category. “The percentage of the younger voters was a lot less.”

The secretary says on the flip side, voter fraud will not be tolerated by any measure. “If it’s voter fraud issues, we’re going to track them down. We’re going to investigate them,” Ardoin noted.