Early voting begins Saturday for Nov. 16 runoff election

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Early voting for the Nov. 16 election begins Saturday, and lasts all the way until Nov. 9 in Louisiana.

The ballot for the election contains several runoff elections on the state level, as well as several municipal seats in Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes.

Louisiana’s gubernatorial election will be decided when Democrat incumbent John Bel Edwards faces off against Republican opponent Eddie Rispone.

Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin will also be facing Democrat opponent Gwen Collins-Greenup.

In the Teche Area, various runoffs for state congressional seats will be taken up as well. For the 48th Representative District, Beau Beaullieu and Ricky Gonsoulin, both Republicans, are competing to fill the seat left vacant by Speaker of the House Taylor Barras.

In the 50th Representative District in St. Mary Parish, Raymond Harris Jr., no party, and Vincent St. Blanc III, Republican, will be vying for the seat left vacant by Democrat Sam Jones.

Several sheriffs runoffs will be taking place as well, including Iberia Parish. Candidates Tommy Romero and Murphy Meyers, both Republicans, will face a runoff to become the next Iberia Parish sheriff following current Sheriff Louis Ackal.

Iberia Parish voters in District 10 will also be voting for a parish councilman, as Republican Roger Duncan and Democrat incumbent Eugene Olivier are both on the ballot.

In St. Martin Parish, Thomas Nelson and Carla Batiste, both Democrats, will face off for a District 2 parish council seat, and Vincent Alexander and Albert “DaDa” Menard, both Democrats, are both running for District 7 parish councilman.

St. Mary Parish District 3 voters will have to decide on Republican Rodney Olander and Democrat Peter Soprano as the district’s new parish councilman. A District 10 council member at-large position is also on the ballot, with Republican Jeremy Chesteen and Gwendolyn Hidalgo, no party, vying for the seat.

Finally, voters in the city of New Iberia will be choosing a new city marshal. Brett Lang and Tony Migues, both Republicans, are both attempting to become the new marshal after Marshal Vic Delcambre died earlier this year.

Early voters can head to the Registrar of Voters in their parish between 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (except Sunday) to cast a ballot.