The Public Affairs Research Council has done an analysis of Louisiana's voter registration data, and finds that the number of registered voters is steadily increasing.
Here's their analysis:
More than 3 million people in Louisiana are registered to vote as the weeklong period to cast ballots early is underway for the November election. The number of people registered to vote in the state has slowly increased over the past two decades, with more than 235,000 new voters signed up from 2000 to 2022, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office.
East Baton Rouge Parish, which is Louisiana’s largest parish by population, unsurprisingly has the highest number of registered voters in the state as well, at 291,310. By comparison, East Carroll Parish, one of the state’s least populated parishes, has 4,881 signed up to vote.
During the last two decades, the number of people in Louisiana registered to vote as Democrats has steadily declined from about 1.7 million to 1.2 million. Meanwhile, the number of voters signed up as Republicans grew during the same period but has plateaued in recent years at around 1 million. The number of voters signed up with other political parties or unaffiliated with a party also rose as Democratic voter registration fell, topping 816,000 people in the latest data.
Louisiana Registered Voters by Party Affiliation
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State
The number of White voters has fluctuated over the years but has more recently hovered around 1.9 million people. The rolls of Black voters had seen a slow but steady growth since 2000, but have fallen slightly from a peak of 953,000 in October 2020 to about 940,000 in the most recent data. The smallest category of voters, who don’t identify as White or Black, saw the fastest increase in registration by doubling from 2000 to 2022 and reaching about 176,000 people.
About 55% of Louisiana’s registered voters are female, while the remaining 45% are male, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
All demographic cohorts experienced an increase in voter registrations during presidential election years across the last two decades.
Louisiana Registered Voters by Race and Gender
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State
Election Day is Nov. 8, with competitions for a U.S. Senate seat, five U.S. House seats and other local races on the ballot. Polls across the state will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Information about what’s on the ballot is available online here through the Secretary of State’s Office.
The deadline to register to vote for the November elections has passed, but residents can still register for the Dec. 10 election through the GeauxVote online registration system.
This election cycle, Louisiana voters will decide the fate of 11 constitutional amendments. For more information on the proposed changes, check out the PAR Guide to the 2022 Constitutional Amendments.
