BATON ROUGE - Early voting for the Mar. 5 Louisiana Presidential Preference Primary begins this Saturday and runs through Saturday, Feb. 27.

The polls will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily on all days excluding Sunday, Feb. 21.

The PPP allows Louisiana electors of each political party in the state to express their preference for a person to be the nominee for president of the United States. The Secretary of State’s Office says the Democratic Party and the Republican Party will also have their state central committee and parish executive committee elections. The PPP and the state and local party elections are the only closed elections held statewide, meaning voters can only cast ballots for a candidate affiliated with the party in which the voter is registered. Simply put, only Democrats can vote for Democrats, and vice versa.

However, in 24 parishes statewide, ALL VOTERS, no matter party, will be casting ballots in local elections as well. Those parishes include: Acadia, Beauregard, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Red River, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and West Baton Rouge.

“This is an election where voters should absolutely check to see what’s on their ballot before they go vote,” said Secretary of State Tom Schedler. “Louisiana has a large number or unaffiliated or no party voters who aren’t eligible to participate in the PPP, but should vote in any local elections for their area. Early voting is a convenient way to get your ballot cast ahead of time and is typically quick and easy.”

Voters are encouraged to use Louisiana’s GeauxVote Mobile application (available for Apple and Android devices) to find out where to vote, what’s on the ballot and to obtain information about their voting districts. Citizens who want to vote early may do so in person at their parish Registrar of Voters’ Office or at other designated locations. For a complete listing of early voting locations, visit https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/EarlyVoting.

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