Louisiana has recently elected a new governor, but the voting isn’t over yet. On Saturday, runoff elections will take place for secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, and nearly two dozen state legislative seats. Republicans only need to defeat one Democratic candidate in a state House district to keep their supermajority in the chamber.
The most prominent race on the ballot is the battle for the secretary of state position, which was vacated by Republican Kyle Ardoin. Nancy Landry, the Republican candidate and former state representative, is facing Democratic candidate Gwen Collins-Greenup, a Baton Rouge-based attorney. The two advanced to the runoff after a tight race in the primary election.
One of the key issues facing the winner is the replacement of Louisiana’s aging electronic touch-screen voting equipment, criticized by both parties for lacking a paper record to verify the accuracy of the results. This process has been drawn out for years, with some advocating for the state to abandon the use of machines entirely and hand-count all ballots.
Both Landry and Collins-Greenup support the adoption of a voting system that provides an auditable paper trail, though they have differing views on extending the state’s early voting period.
The Louisiana general election will include contested races for several positions, and registered voters can participate in it. Despite the recent victory of Governor John Bel Edwards, Louisiana continues to pose a challenge for Democrats running statewide. The expected low turnout for this runoff would also work against the Democrats.
As of now, a total of 264,855 voters have cast ballots ahead of Election Day, and estimates predict a turnout of 15-18% of registered voters, based on previous statewide contests and advance voting. In past elections, vote-counting in Louisiana has been relatively quick.
The election will be closely watched, and the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments. We do not make projections, and we will declare a winner only when it’s clear that the trailing candidates cannot close the gap. Any races subject to a recount will be closely monitored, and a winner will be declared if the lead is determined to be too large for a recount to change the outcome.
