BATON ROUGE - With important positions and issues on the ballot this year, Louisianans can hardly wait to vote.

"To have two-and-half times more voters vote on the first day than in 2015 was a big surprise," Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said. 

This weekend's early voting numbers broke records in the state, surpassing the 2015 election by more than double.

"Given the fact that a lot of folks hadn't felt that there was a lot of excitement about the race for governor and other statewides... So we were pleased," Ardoin said.

But 77,000 voters prove there is excitement, particularly for the governor's race.

"Lot of interest, a lot of candidates for lots of positions certainly for governor. It's pretty critical," voter John Lacour said.

In East Baton Rouge, the St. George issue drew thousands over the weekend. But the secretary of state's office says the pull is just as strong statewide.

"Well, I think that along with a lot of local elections, there's a lot of contested sheriffs races and clerk of court race around the state. And what we noticed with the numbers is that it's pretty much across the state, all parishes are participating at a higher level than they did in 2015 on the first day," Ardoin said.

One more big thing pushing capital area residents to the polls early—election day is also LSU's homecoming game.

"People are so focused particularly this year on LSU and against Florida here it's a pretty big deal," Lacour said.