By Rita Shirley LeBleu
Voter turnout was light in Calcasieu and Beauregard Parishes on Saturday, July 27.
In Calcasieu, 1,849 voted early for U.S. Democratic Senator. “Jamie” Davis was the overall winner with 156,776 votes across the state. In Calcasieu Parish, 1,379 early votes were cast for Davis.
In DeQuincy, 44 votes were cast at DeQuincy precincts for Davis. Runoff contender Gary Crockett received 16. In Vinton, the vote was 31 for Davis and 15 for Crockett. Starks, 8 to 4.
Julia Letlow was the winner of the U.S. Senator Republican race. She received 179, 971 votes statewide to come out ahead of John Fleming, 57 percent. Fleming received 136,567 votes statewide, 43 percent. Letlow received 1,623 early votes in Calcasieu Parish, Fleming 1,509.
At DeQuincy precincts, Letlow received 255 votes, Fleming, 204. In Vinton, the vote was 137 for Letlow and 84 for Fleming. Starks, 51 to 32 in Letlow’s favor.
Beauregard Wanted Fleming
Beauregard Parish voters went to the polls for John Fleming the Republican candidate received 54 percent of the vote, according to Beauregard Parish Clerk of Court Brian LeStage. Early vote results had Fleming with 53 percent or 563 votes and Julia Letlow with 47 percent or 497 votes.
The Merryville and Fields precincts voted for Letlow, 63 to 55. In Ragley, Fleming was a clear winner with 311 votes to Letlow’s 241. Longville cast 160 votes for Fleming and 137 for Letlow. Singer and Oretta punched Fleming on the ballot 110 times. Letlow came in with 82.
In the runoff between Gary Crockett and “Jamie” Davis for Democratic U.S. Senator Singer voted 10 to 6 for Davis. The vote was 12 to 4 in Longville, 35 to 11 in Ragley and 17 to 3 in Merryville and Fields. The total number of early votes was 410, 283 or 69 percent for Davis and 127 or 31 percent for Crockett.
Four hundred and ten citizens in Beauregard voted early for Democratic Senator candidates. Two hundred and eighty-three or 69 percent of the vote went to Davis.
The 1 percent sales and use tax for District 1 that includes Singer, Oretta, Bivens and Fields passed with 75 percent of the vote.
The Town of Merryville .025 percent tax property tax passed with 56 percent of the vote.
