Voting changes in St. Landry Parish ahead of election

ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) – Voters in St. Landry Parish need to be aware of changes taking place that may affect your trip to the polls this Saturday.

With Louisiana state law requiring a new layout for the ballad this year, anyone expecting to vote also needs to be aware their voting location may be different than years prior due to reapportionment in St. Landry Parish.

“Every 10 years the us constitution requires that we reapportion in every state of the union to accommodate voter population changes. That led to some confusion because we changed voting places for different people,” says St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court Charles Jagneaux.

Jagneaux says the changes in voting location were decided by the parish council, so residents in the parish may not be able to vote in the same location as previous years.

Voters may also run into confusion due to the parish using a full faced ballot at each precinct, meaning every race will from every district will be visible. However, people will not be able to vote on every item. “In this election, St. Landry Parish has like 55 different ballot styles throughout the parish, and there are 35 different lockouts. You may be locked out of certain items on the ballot because your not eligible to vote there,” says Jagneaux.

With these major changes taking place, Jagneaux offers several precautionary measures to take and ensure there is no confusion when people cast their votes. “Everyone should check their voter registration card before they go to the polls. They can call the registrar of voters at St. Landry Parish, or they can go to Geauxvote.com.

Jagneaux also advises everyone to use Geauxvote.com to look at sample ballots and know all of the races you’re eligible to vote for.