What is it? Early voting for the Nov. 3 election began at the Registrar of Voters Office Friday and will continue every day except Sundays until Oct. 27. Early voting allows residents to vote if there is a reason that they can’t or do not wish to vote on the official election day.

How’s it going? The line at the Iberia Registrar of Voters stretched out into the courthouse lobby Friday morning. More than 1,100 voters cast in-person ballots Friday. Registrar of Voters Kristie Blanchard said her office had taken the necessary precautions to sanitize voting booths in light of COVID-19, and was generally trying to make the event as efficient and safe as possible. There were also about 1,600 ballots returned by mail so far of the almost 3,000 Blanchard said had been mailed out.

How do I vote early? If you live in Iberia Parish, you can head to the Iberia Parish Courthouse between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. All early voters must go through security and wear a face mask.

Overheard at the polls

“It’s been different with COVID, we have to wipe down the machines and the cards each time. But this is what we expected. The line’s moving pretty good, and it’s going to be like this for 10 days.” — Kristie Blanchard, Registrar of Voters

“We’re here to vote, we usually try to vote early. We try to get in early and get it down.” — Jonathan Landry, early voter

“It’s a big line but not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s good to get some people going out and voting. It’s kind of hard to do with all of this COVID stuff going on. — Norma Broussard, early voter