By John Prime

jprime@gannett.com

and Monica Carter

mpcarter@gannett.com



BATON ROUGE - A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats are voting absentee for the Nov. 15 election, when Kathleen Blanco and Bobby Jindal face off in Louisiana's gubernatorial runoff. And some parishes have more people voting absentee this time than they had for the Oct. 4 primary, registrars of voters report.

But that doesn't mean more people will go to the polls next week, some registrars of voters say. And Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, who predicted a much higher turnout than the actual count Oct. 4, sidestepped an exact forecast for the Nov. 15 election and settled for "less than the 49.5 percent in October."

Interest in the gubernatorial runoff and local elections varies widely in different parts of the state. As of Thursday evening, 69,363 people had voted absentee statewide. In October, 85,602 voted absentee. Assistant Elections Commissioner Pat Bergeron doesn't believe the October count will be topped by noon today, when absentee balloting ends.

In Caddo Parish the story was a little different.

"We've already exceeded the October turnout," said Caddo Registrar of Voters Ernie Roberson, who ended Friday with 2,166 votes cast. Midway through the lunch hour, he had more than 20 people standing in a line at his offices.

Pastor Kenneth Fisher broke away from work twice Friday to try to squeeze in his absentee vote. The first time, the line was so long the 62-year-old had to leave to keep an appointment with someone at his church, St. Paul United Methodist. The second time, he waited an hour before getting to cast his vote.

"I didn't anticipate this kind of crowd on a workday. Someone told me it would just take a few minutes."

Somebody must have told a whole lot of people the same thing. Men and women - some in suits, others in sneakers and jeans - stood for more than an hour to cast absentee ballots Friday afternoon in Caddo. The line snaked around the lobby, with people squeezing in to make room for latecomers.

Some of those waiting chatted on cellular telephones; others struck up conversations with strangers. Fisher joined a discussion about the increased presence of snakes this time of year - the best way to kill them is a shotgun, the group decided. Or a hoe.

Roberson expects as many as 2,700 absentee votes to be cast after today's final count but said that might not translate to greater overall turnout Nov. 15. "I really think since we're in the middle of deer, duck and pigskin season, that's more of what it is."

In Bossier Parish, Registrar Janet Burks reported 1,073 walk-in absentee votes cast as of midday Friday. "It's been steady the whole week. If it continues the way it has, we'll exceed the in-person absentee voting in October, which was 1,164," Burks said.

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Time staffer Monica Carter and Gannett Capital Bureau reporter Mike Hasten contributed to this report.