Voter turnout drops in area

Voter apathy has returned to Evangeline Parish.
After last year’s strong showing at the ballot box, parish voters failed to show up to cast their ballots this past Saturday.
In the 2007 general election, 12,143 total votes were cast in the parish sheriff’s race which Eddie Soileau later won in a runoff. Four years later the vote output for that race slightly decreased to 11,445 votes but this past Saturday it dropped off a cliff as only 8,796 votes were cast in the sheriff’s race.
Turnout for the sheriff’s race dropped from 53 percent in 2011 to a mere 40.3 percent on Saturday.
“After early voting I only had 1,800 votes,” Registrar of Voters Lucas Buller said. “I knew it wouldn’t be 45 percent turnout. I thought it would be around 40 to 42 percent. It’s voter apathy. They are just not interested anymore.”
Voter turnout may be on the decline but that hasn’t hurt Eddie Soileau’s popularity.
In the 2007 general election, Eddie Soileau captured 42.15 percent (5,118 votes) while Ted Soileau captured 30.59 percent (3,715 votes), as the two men made the runoff a month later. Eddie won that runoff with 62.31 percent (6,058 votes) compared to 37.69 percent (3,664) that Ted Soileau received from parish voters.
Four years later, Eddie Soileau didn’t need a runoff as he won outright by capturing 51.09 percent (5,847 votes). Even though he received 630 less votes than four years earlier, Soileau still won in a landslide as he captured 59 percent (5,217 votes).
The decline in voter turnout is not regulated to the sheriff’s race.
The Evangeline Parish Police Jury has also seen a steady decrease. In the 2007 general election, parish voters had to vote in four juror races and a total of 5,713 votes were cast. Yet in last Saturday’s election which featured five juror races the total amount was only 5,179 votes and not a single race received more than 45 percent turnout.
Districts 4, 7 and 9 all had to be voted on in both 2007 and 2015. This past Saturday District 4 saw a decrease of 494 votes, District 7 saw 497 less votes while District 9 had 156 less votes compared to 2007.
Voter apathy can be applied for parish voters to statewide races.
The governor’s race saw only 41 percent voter turnout this past Saturday with the lieutenant governor’s race a mere 38.7 percent. Those are down from 53.2 percent four years earlier when Gov. Bobby Jindal was elected for a second consecutive term.
“Even though we are increasing the time for people to cast their vote more and more, turnout continues to go down,” Buller said.
Apathy though seemingly wasn’t a factor for last year’s general election which saw mayor races in Ville Platte, Basile, Turkey Creek and chief of police races in Ville Platte, Turkey Creek and Chataignier, as well as school board positions and a U.S. Senate race.
Voter turnout in those races last October ranged from 54 to 72 percent, with the exception being a few races in Basile that were around 50 percent.
It is hard to calculate if voter apathy will still be around for next year’s general election when voters will decide the next President of the United States. The past two presidential elections saw nearly 16,000 votes cast both times in Evangeline Parish.