[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish voter turnout had typical drop from presidential election

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish voter turnout had typical drop from presidential election
 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
on December 11, 2012 at 3:02 PM, updated December 11, 2012 at 4:09 PM Print
St. Bernard Parish voter turnout, similar to typical trends following
presidential elections, dropped substantially from Nov. 6 to the Saturday
election. The recent election drew less than a third of the parish's Nov. 6
voter turnout.

The Saturday election saw 17.4 percent of St. Bernard registered voters cast
ballots, compared with 54.3 percent for the presidential race, according to
statistics from the secretary of state. That's despite the fact that the
Dec. 8 election had more, larger-stake local measures than its Nov. 6
counterpart.

The unofficial statewide turnout for Saturday's election was about 20
percent. The overall state turnout for the presidential election was about
68 percent. So, percentage-wise, St. Bernard turnout dropped slightly less
from the presidential race to Saturday's election than statewide.


St. Bernard Parish voters cast their ballots at Arabi Elementary School on
Nov. 6 during the presidential election.
Ben Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune  
About 14,000 St. Bernard voters cast ballots in the Nov. 6 presidential
election. On Saturday, only about 4,510 parish voters cast votes, according
to unofficial voter turnout statistics provided by the secretary of state's
office.

The biggest ticket St. Bernard ballot measure on Saturday was the fire
millage, which passed by about 300 votes: 2,410 to 2,103. Out of the total
number of votes cast, 1,133 St. Bernard residents voted during the early
voting period, according Secretary of State statistics.

There are about 26,000 registered voters in St. Bernard Parish, according to
the secretary of state.

In the recent presidential election, 8,501 St. Bernard voters -- or 61
percent -- voted for Mitt Romney, compared with 5,059, or 36 percent, for
President Barack Obama. Three percent of St. Bernard voters cast ballots for
other candidates, mainly either Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party, who
received about 200 St. Bernard votes, or Jill Stein of the Green Party, who
received about 100 parish votes.

For the two purely local St. Bernard ballot measures on Nov. 6, only about
12,000 people cast votes on those issues, meaning about 2,000 people during
that election cast votes for a presidential candidate but ended up declining
to cast votes on the two local ballots proposals - one to create a local
ethics board (that measure passed) and another to amend the way the parish
collects money from taxpayers for its 911 emergency service (that failed).

About 13,500 St. Bernard voters cast ballots in the 2008 presidential race
compared with about 5,400 St. Bernard voters who cast votes in the local
election a month before. That election included a vote to fill the vacated
at-large Parish Council seat, which ended up going to Wayne Landry.

Before Hurricane Katrina, when the St. Bernard population was about 65,000
compared with its current 40,000, about 30,000 voters cast ballots in the
2004 presidential race. The election for a U.S. House seat a month later
brought in only 10,099 St. Bernard votes.