Early voting starts Saturday

Early voting for the Oct. 12 election will begin this Saturday, Sept. 28.
It will run each day through Saturday, Oct. 5, with the exception of Sunday, Sept. 29. Early voting can be done on each of those days, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., in Vermilion Parish Registrar of Voters Mike Bertand’s office. His office is located on the first floor of the Vermilion Parish Courthouse in downtown Abbeville.
On the ballot for Vermilion Parish Sheriff will be incumbent Mike Couvillon and challenger Lance Broussard.
There will be numerous races for seats on the Vermilion Parish Police Jury.
The race in District 3 will be between incumbent Brent Landry and challenger Kerry Richard.
District 5 voters will decide between incumbent Wayne Touchet and challenger Barbara Adams.
Incumbent Mark Poché and challenger Al Harrington are vying for the District 6 seat.
In District 7, incumbent Paul Bourgeois faces challenger Ernal “EJ” Broussard.
Chad “Chad-O” Lege and Tony Romero are the two candidates for the District 9 seat.
There will be a three-man race in district 11. Taking part in that race are Scott Broussard, Tony Faulk and incumbent Pervis Gaspard.
Voters in District 12 choose among three candidates, Dexter Callahan, Mike “MJ” Landry and David Trahan.
There will be a special election for the Vermilion Parish School Board’s District E seat. That will be between Charlotte Detraz and Anita Levy.
There will be a special election for Kaplan Aldermen in District C. That race is between Kevin Cormier and Justin “JJ” Johnson.
There will be two races for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). One will be in District 7 between incumbent Holly Boffy and challenger Timmie Melancon. The other will be in District 3 between Janice Perea and Sandy LeBlanc Holloway.
There will be a race for State Senator in District 26. Current Sen. Bob Hensgens is seeking re-election against challenger Jerry Gaspard.
Some In the north Vermilion area will vote on State Representative for District 31. There are four candidates in that race, Jim Dore, Jonathan Goudeau, Gus Rantz and Quinta Thompson.
There will also be statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and forestry and commissioner of insurance.
In addition to a Louisiana driver’s license, a Louisiana Special ID or a generally recognized ID with picture and signature, voters may now use a digital license via LA Wallet, the new smartphone app by the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles. Poll commissioners have received training regarding the digital license as an acceptable form of picture ID.
Election Day for the gubernatorial primary is Saturday, Oct. 12 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.