Voters in Louisiana were set to head to the polls for their state’s primary elections this Saturday, but with Hurricane Gustav hitting the Gulf Coast, it’s looking like the primaries could be delayed by a week:
Although Louisiana election officials said Monday that they aren’t optimistic about being able to hold the state’s primaries on Saturday as scheduled, no official decision is expected until after Hurricane Gustav moves out of Louisiana later this week.
Even though the storm made landfall with less intensity than originally expected on Monday, it still had the potential to wreak widespread damage across Louisiana. And even if the storm dissipates quickly, the mass evacuations that took place in coastal areas would make it tough to hold an election by Saturday in several districts.
“Sept. 6 does not look likely,” said Jacques Berry, spokesman for Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne (R). Berry said that as of Monday afternoon, Dardenne had not made any official recommendation about postponing the election to Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who has the power to make that decision.
Obviously everyone’s first concern is the safety of lives and property (and on that score, Gustav so far seems mercifully tamer than most expected), but we’ll also be keeping an eye on the evacuation’s impacts on the state’s primary schedule. Stay tuned.