In Lafayette Parish, as in the rest of Louisiana, Republican President-elect Donald Trump performed well in predominantly white precincts, while Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris performed well in predominantly Black precincts.
Trump did not lose much support in Lafayette Parish between the 2018 election and the 2020 election. He still got about 520 fewer votes than in the previous election.
In 2020, Harris did not do as well as Vice President Joe Biden. In 2020, she got about 2,515 votes less than Biden’s 39,685 votes.
According to Joel Watson Jr., Deputy Secretary of State for Communications, detailed demographics from the Nov. 5 election will not be available for a few weeks. These will show breakdowns by party, race, and gender.
But now we have precinct totals and percentages that show where each candidate did better than the others in the race for Louisiana’s eight electoral college votes.
66% of people in the state, or about 2 million people, went to the polls to vote. Of those, 1.2 million chose Trump and 766,405 chose Harris.
The number of people who voted in Louisiana was lower than the 70% who voted in 2020, when Biden beat Trump, who won Louisiana with 1.25 million votes to Biden’s 856,000.
On November 5, 68% of people in Lafayette Parish went to the polls. There were 111,078 votes, with 65% (71,999) going to Trump and 33% (37,170) going to Harris.
In 2020, 114,521 votes were cast in the parish, which is a 71.6% turnout. Trump got 63% of the vote, or 72,519 votes, while Biden got 35%, or 39,685 votes.
Some of the most people who voted on Tuesday did so in Lafayette Parish precincts in and around Duson. 54% of people who are registered to vote in Precinct 27 and go to the Duson Community Center to vote actually do so.
There were also a lot of voters in other precincts in that area. For example, 49% of people in Precinct 119, which is at Ossun Elementary School, 49% of people in Precinct 28, which is at Duson Elementary School, 49% of people in Precinct 37, which is at Judice Middle School, and 46% of people in Precinct 114, which is at Duson Elementary School, went to the polls.
Twelve people are registered to vote in Lafayette’s Precinct 130, which is the Heymann Recreation Center on Orange Street. Only two people went there to vote.
Only six of the 22 registered voters in Broussard’s Precinct 131, which includes Broussard Middle School, cast ballots on Tuesday.
That is because of redistricting, said Louis Perret, clerk of court for Lafayette Parish. Based on changes in population found in the most recent U.S. Census, a demographer redrawn many voting districts, such as state Senate and House districts.
Perret said, “We can not do anything about it.”
He thought that it would cost around $1,000 to hire election commissioners to work in each precinct.
Charlene Menard, who is the registrar of voters, said that the small precincts will not stay in place. Because those precincts have less than 300 voters, she should be able to move people from them to other precincts during a voter canvas next year.
Other precincts in the parish with the lowest voter turnout rates are:
- Precinct 51, Martin Luther King Recreation Center, 23%.
- Precinct 104, Ernest Gallet Elementary, (East Milton Avenue), 23%.
- Precinct 115, Broussard Middle, 23%.
- Precinct 96, Allen Comeaux Recreation Center (Bluebird Drive), 24%.
- Precinct 128, East Regional Library (La Neuville Road), 24%.
- Precinct 19, Martin Luther King Recreation Center, 24%.
- Precinct 128, East Regional Library (La Neuville Road), 24%.
The parish has many precincts where the majority of voters supported Trump. The only one that does not is on the northside of Lafayette.
- 94%, Precinct 76, LEDA (Devalcourt Street).
- 86%, Precinct 119, Ossun Elementary.
- 86%, Precinct 135, Southside High School.
- 83%, Precinct 28, Duson Elementary.
- 83%, Precinct 105, Milton Elementary.
- 83%, Precinct 129, Evangeline Elementary (East Butcher Switch Road).
- 83%, Precinct 131, Broussard Middle School.
- 82%, Precinct 101, Martial Billeaud Elementary (Broussard).
- 81%, Precinct 25, Scott City Hall.
- 81%, Precinct 79, L.J. Alleman Middle School.
- 81%, Precinct 114, Duson Elementary.
- 81% Precinct 122, Carencro Middle School.
- 81%, Precinct 132, South Regional Library.
People who live on the northside of Lafayette, where Harris’ support was strongest, are mostly Black. In places like Precinct 18, Alice Boucher School, where Harris got 93% (317 votes) to Trump’s 6% (21 votes), she did much better than Trump.
Harris got 350 votes at Precinct 20, Northside High School. She also got 317 votes at Precinct 18, Alice Boucher School, and 305 votes at Precinct 11, Acadian Middle School on Moss Street.