By james art BATON ROUGE — Early voting data shows a drop in voter turnout in Louisiana compared to the 2020 election, with fewer black voters heading to the polls before Nov. 5.
More than 761,000 registered voters in the state have already voted early, down from nearly 1 million in 2020. Of the state’s 3 million registered voters, 942,000 are black, but less than 20 percent voted early.
Louisiana NAACP State Conference President Michael McClanahan stressed the importance of every vote.
“To see that the numbers are at rock bottom is really worrying – it’s worrying because we can change a lot of things if we elect the person who speaks for us,” he said.
McClanahan noted that people sacrificed for the right to vote and those sacrifices should not be forgotten.
“Blood, sweat and tears bought this country, pushed it forward. We all stand on somebody’s shoulders,” McClanahan said.
In the East Baton Rouge Parish mayoral race, more than 73,000 voters cast early ballots, but only 26,000 were black voters. McClanahan said his organization is going door-to-door and making phone calls to continue pushing for increased voter turnout.
“The work we do matters because when we vote, we win – when we vote, we all win.”