GONZALES- In what's proving to be a historic election, nearly half of all Ascension Parish voters have cast ballots already.

The longtime Registrar of Voters Robert Poche said he expects turnout to be over 70-percent when the polls close Tuesday night. The hard work began Monday morning when hundreds of ballots were turned in. Those are currently being processed and will be counted tomorrow.

"Wednesday they will go pick up the voting machines," Poche said. "Thursday we will open the machines and verify the results and send the verification to the Secretary of State's office."

Sylvia Triche voted absentee for the first time in her life. She showed up at the Registrar of Voter's office to turn her ballot in.

"I'm a senior citizen, and my daughter told me that you don't want to go stand in that long line on election day and do an absentee vote. And that's what I did," Triche said.

Triche said the process went smoothly.

"It was a lady at the desk," Triche said. "She opened the envelope, had me show her my ID, and then she put the ballot in the envelope."

Poche said so far, 43-percent of voters in Ascension Parish have already voted, a historic figure. He had this message of advice for people who are planning on heading to the polls on election day.

"Prepare yourself for the amendments, because if you go in there and start reading them, it will be hard to complete it in the three-minute time frame and understand what you are trying to do," Poche said.