NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of people across Southeast Louisiana cast an early vote this election cycle. Nearly 10,000 people in Orleans Parish alone cast an absentee vote.
Inside sealed boxes were about 10,000 absentee votes, those boxes were wheeled inside city council chambers to be counted.
Orleans Parish Clerk of Court, Darren Lombard says early vote numbers in Orleans Parish are slightly down compared to last electoral cycle. He does attribute that to the pandemic, as in 2020 people were staying home.
Lombard said, "A winner could be projected tonight."
He went on to say, "It's not as extensive as we thought it was, we have had issues in the past where it lasted deep into the night."
WWL Louisiana could not show the process because no cameras were allowed inside chambers, but once the seals are broken, the parish starts sorting ballots. Lombard said, "They separate the actual ballot itself from the voter's information, so you cannot have a voter be connected to a vote."
Then they're passed to the Secretary of State, who scans the ballot into the system. Now state staff are physically sitting across from parish employees so it's very quick. However, if there is a question about a vote – say you ticked the box, instead of circling it, the state passes the ballot back to the parish – for them to vote on whether that vote is valid or not.
Lombard says at the end of the day the ballots are re-sealed in the boxes. He says whenever the ballots are unattended, they are re-sealed, and each time they are sealed or re-sealed, it's documented.
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