BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Getting people registered to vote ahead of the November elections is the focus in the East Baton Rouge Parish Registrar of Voters office.

“We’re preparing to mail absentee ballots here in the next few weeks and getting things ready for early voting as well. There’s a lot of activity going on right now in our office,” said Steve Raborn, East Baton Rouge Registrar of Voters.

Raborn said his office is prepared no matter the Secretary of State’s emergency election plan.
Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s proposed plan doesn’t do enough to let more voters cast ballots by mail due to the pandemic.

The US Postal Service is sending out mailers for anyone who is going to vote by mail for the election, but don’t throw it away if you get it in your mail. The registrar of voters says there’s some very important information on it.

On the back, it tells you to request an absentee ballot as soon as possible if you’re eligible and to return it as soon as possible, at least seven days before Election Day. It doesn’t mean you’ll get a ballot automatically.

Raborn added, “We’re prepared. We’re ready to handle the increase in volume that we’re getting this year all the way around and so we expect to be in good shape for this election.”

Next week is Voter Registration Week. The Registrar of Voters office will have extended hours. Election day is November 3rd.