Number of St. Landry election precincts restored but some may vote in new places

St. Landry Parish council members fired questions at a demographer and a registrar official Wednesday before approving an amended resolution that identifies updated parish-wide polling locations and voter precincts.

Council and St. Landry Parish School Board members have been dealing with precinct and polling place location issues since 2021 when council members agreed to reduce the number of voting precincts from 92 to 53 to save Election Day costs.

That decision only fueled voter pushback after some residents complained about having to drive as much as 45 miles further after their precinct locations were moved.

Council members have already agreed to increase the number of precincts back to their pre-2021 numbers.

Since October, council members and school board members have met informally with demographer Mike Hefner several times during open sessions about the location of election district lines.

School board members earlier this year signed off unanimously on a redistricting plan for their November election.

On Wednesday night, the amended council resolution reaffirmed the precinct descriptions, but council members told Hefner there are still issues regarding polling places that needed to be resolved.

Acting Registrar of Voters Lauren Jones spoke to several council members about the locations of various precincts and polling places.

Hefner admitted that there are lingering precinct line problems that he described as geographical data errors in St. Landry and other predominantly rural parishes.

“It’s not unusual to have errors turn up on roads in the rural areas. The Secretary of State sends the data lines for precinct locations out to the parishes. After that the Registrar of Voters works with the Secretary of State to double check the addresses of voters,” Hefner said during the meeting.

More: St. Landry Parish Council considers expanding absentee voting in response to consolidating precincts

However Hefner added that the Council is not responsible for solving matters that involve where voters cast their ballots.

Council members said that constituents in their election districts are still questioning where they will vote.

Gil Savoy, a council member who represents the Port Barre area, indicated that a woman he said lives inside town, told him she will have to now vote in the town of Washington.

After checking the computer data on his laptop screen, Hefner said although the voter does live inside Port Barre, she resides on the west side of a bayou that traverses the town and will have to vote in Washington.

“The Council wanted to make it clear that while we and the School Board members changed some of the (election district lines), the Council and the School Board did not change the precincts,” council member Jerry Red, Jr. said in a Thursday interview.

Red said that some residents are blaming the Council for precinct changes and where they will have to vote during the next election cycles.

“People are being told that it’s the Council members who are doing that, but we are not the ones deciding where people will go vote. That’s up to the Secretary of State and Registrar of Voters,” said Red.

Council member Tim LeJeune said voters who reside inside his election district are confused since some of them are being sent now to Highland Elementary in Eunice on Election Day.

Wayne Ardoin said people who formerly voted at Opelousas High in District 9, are being sent now to Park Vista Elementary to vote.

Ardoin added that there were numerous voting error complications in the Sunset area and in the northern end of the parish.

Council members said that parish residents have started to receive voter registration cards and some individuals have questioned where they will be required to vote in the 2022 and 2023 elections.

More: St. Landry school board members unanimously approve new district boundaries

Hefner said voters need to present their concerns to the Registrar of Voters if corrections are required.

“Correcting data can be done up to the day of voting. If there are still issues with their (voter registration) cards, voters need to make those objections known as soon as possible,” said Hefner.

Hefner said voters who still have questions about the precincts and polling places listed on their registration cards should not blame the Council.

“There have been some errors. Voters in some cases have not been assigned to the proper (election districts). This however is really not a local level mistake,” Hefner said.

This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: Number of St. Landry precincts restored, some may vote in new places