Tensions Rise Over New Early Voting Sites In Caddo Parish

Tempers flared during the Caddo Parish Commission work session on Monday. The feud centers on the plan to add 2 new early voting sites. One would be located in Oil City and another would be located in west Shreveport.

Only One Early Voting Site Has Been Approved for Caddo

But the Secretary of State has only approved the north Caddo spot. Some commissioners raised questions about why the state has only approved the rural location and not the proposed venue for west Shreveport. There is a move to delay moving forward until both sites are approved.

But Commissioner Chris Kracman wants the parish to move forward with the north Caddo location now. He says many of the folks in his district have to drive 50 miles to an early voting site. The approved site in north Caddo is at 310 Savage Street in Oil City at the Oil City Community Center. It's already a voting site and would be easy to move forward.

Questions Raised by Some Caddo Commissioners

But some commissioners want to know why the Secretary of State approved only one site and why she chose the north Caddo site as opposed to the west Shreveport location. Some are proposing waiting until both sites are approved before moving forward. But Kracman, John Atkins and others say we should move forward with the one the state has approved now and hope the west Shreveport site is ok'd next year.

You can watch the commission discuss this at the 1:20 mark in this video:

Secretary of State Nancy Landry sent this statement to KEEL News:

Lots of parishes are requesting new sites. That, plus the implementation of closed party primaries and other projects, is a heavy load on our limited staff. We agreed to help establish a new site in Caddo this year (hopefully), with another in the near future once this first new site and others in the state are up and running. There’s a lot that goes into getting/setting up a new site.

Landry says the north Caddo parish site will make it easier for voters in that area to get to a voting precinct. She says Shreveport currently has two locations, one in downtown Shreveport and the other at the library on Bert Kouns.

Commissioner Roy Burrell says he does not want to move forward with one without the other because he says there is no guarantee from this administration that the west Shreveport location will be approved.