The election primary of October 14, 2023, was the subject of Winnfield’s Rotary meeting on November 15. Bryan Kelley, Winn Parish Registrar of Voters as well as a longtime Rotarian, gave the club members the low down on the voting statistics for the day.
At present, Winn Parish has 8,417 registered voters, of which 35.25% are registered Democrats, 37.91% are registered Republicans, and almost 27% are registered as other or no party. Of those registered voters, 4,657 or 55.33% voted in the most recent election. Only 52.44% of registered Democrats voted, whereas 66.69% of registered Republicans voted.
Early voters comprised 43.23% of all voters in the October 14, 2023, election, and 56.77% of those voting did so on election day itself. Republicans were the largest percentage of those voting early, with 46.65% of early voters, and early voting Democrats were only 33.23% of the total. 23.92% of all registered voters voted early. Early voters include those voting by mail.
Those voting on election day were 56.77% of the turnout, but only 31.41% of all voters in the parish. Mr. Kelley noted that early voting has increased steadily over the past 16 years, from 20.35% in 2007 to 43.23% in 2023.
Significant shifts in party registration have also taken place over the last 16 years, with registered Democrats comprising 61% of registered voters in 2007 and only 35.25% in 2023. Registration of Republican voters has increased from 18.09% in 2007 up to 37.91% in 2023. Those registered as members of “Other Party” have slowly gone from 20.73% in 2007 to 26.84% in 2023, almost the same percentage as four years ago.
Mr. Kelley mentioned the committee appointed to recommend a new voting system which must contain a paper backup for all ballots has completed its work, but it will still be some time before the results make their way through our legislature and a new system is implemented. There will certainly be modifications of election law after adoption of a new system. These anticipated developments could affect future trends in voting.