'Motivated electorate'
by Michael DeVault - posted Thursday, November 1st, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

Record number of votes cast during early voting

Campaigning is not yet over, but more than 13 percent of registered voters in Ouachita Parish have already cast their votes ahead of the Nov. 6 general election.
Some 13,551 early votes were cast during the week-long early voting period, according to the Ouachita Parish Registrar of Voters Office. That was enough to set a new record for early voting, according to Registrar of Voters Christa Medaries.

"That was more than we've ever had before," Medaries said.
The 2008 November election cycle drew more than 5,600 voters in early voting.
Medaries said early voting for the 2012 election was unlike anything she had seen before.

One factor Medaries believed contributed to higher than usual early voting numbers is that candidates are touting early voting.

"People are pushing early voting," Medaries said. "All of the politicians get on TV and push it."
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