BATON ROUGE- Voters across the state will be heading to the polls Thursday for the third day of early voting.

Nationally, officials have seen nearly triple the number of early voters compared to four years ago. Local election officials are optimistic about early voting numbers, especially after the turnout on the first two days.

In East Baton Rouge Parish 62,000 ballots were cast. Over in Ascension Parish, 1,800 turned out. In Livingston Parish just under 1,700 people voted.

West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, East, and West Feliciana Parishes saw several hundred voters respectively.  In total throughout all 64 parishes, more than 69,000 votes were cast on the first day of early voting.

If residents want to avoid lines or the election day rush, officials are urging people to cast their vote ahead of time. Click here for more information.