Voter registration deadline for alcohol referendum nears

Ruston residents who want to vote in the March 25 local option alcohol referendum and are not now registered have until Feb. 22 to sign up in person, by mail, or at the Office of Motor Vehicles.

New voters wishing to register in person can do so at the Lincoln Parish Registrar of Voters Office, located on the ground floor of the courthouse. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

Registrants should bring identification, such as a valid driver’s license, and proof of address if the address on their driver’s license is different than their current residence.

Deadline to register through the GeauxVote online registration is March 4.

Only registered voters inside the Ruston city limits are eligible to vote in the referendum.

At issue is whether local stores can sell high- content alcohol, including beer, wine, and liquor. Walmart and Brookshire’s, parent company of Super 1 Foods, are behind the move.

Ruston’s Board of Aldermen voted unanimously in December to call the election. But the vote was largely a formality. By law, a governing body must all set an election if 25% of the voters petition it to do so.

Supporters of expanded sales garnered 2,793 valid signatures on a petition that circulated last fall; that number was 339 more than petitioners needed to force aldermen to schedule the referendum.

Backers say Ruston is losing tax revenue and jobs because residents are forced to drive to other surrounding communities like Grambling and Monroe to purchase alcohol. But so far, no one has quantified how much tax money they believe is being lost.

Meantime, what complicates the pending public vote is a state law requiring all five Louisiana local-option possibilities to be on the ballot. Each option must be voted on separately.

If city voters want to keep the alcohol options already in effect, they must vote them back in again, plus decide on the high-content question as well as another option that would allow bars in the city.

Early voting for the March referendum is March 11-18, excluding the Sunday in the voting period, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the registrar’s office.