Early voting for runoff begins Friday

Early voting for the Nov. 18 general election begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Lincoln Parish Registrar of Voters’ Office and continues daily until 6 p.m. Nov. 11, with the exception of Sunday and Nov. 10, the official Veterans’ Day observance.

Voters should bring photo identification.

Runoffs for three remaining statewide officeholders and four more proposed Louisiana constitutional amendments are on the parishwide ballot.

Voters in Lincoln Parish Police Jury Districts 1, 10 and 11 will also elect their jurors, while Ruston voters will decide whether the city can join the Louisiana Energy and Power Authority.

As with the October primary, the most closely watched races on the local ballot are three remaining police jury contests.

In District 1, incumbent Theresa Wyatt faces Greg “Big Coach” Williams. Wyatt won 49% of the primary vote in what then was a three-way race. Williams, a political newcomer, got 45%.

Wyatt, a 16-year-incumbent, announced her reelection bid in July, then withdrew about two weeks later, but got back in on the opening day of qualifying. She said her supporters convinced her to seek a fifth term.

Williams is retired from the Lincoln Parish school system. He’s been a assistant principal, athletic director and head coach.

Both candidates are Democrats.

District 10 voters will choose between incumbent Milton Melton, the jury’s current vice president, and challenger Gary Wayne Baldwin.

Melton led the threeway primary race with 48% of the vote to firsttime candidate Baldwin’s 35%.

Both men are Democrats. Melton is completing his first term on the jury.

District 11 voters will have a new juror regardless of which candidate runoff candidate they choose.

That’s because incumbent Sharyon Mayfield, a juror since 2012, was defeated in the primary. Now the race is between Diane Heard Richards and Patsy Candler.

Richards led the primary with 43% of the vote to second-place finisher Candler’s 31%. Both candidates are Democrats.

Candler is a former employee of what’s now Super 1 Foods and of the Humanitarian Enterprises of Lincoln Parish.

Richards is also retired from what’s now Super 1 Foods and H&R Block. She owns and operates a professional tax business.

Statewide races

Statewide races remain for secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer.

The race for secretary of state pits Nancy Landry, the current first assistant secretary of state and a Republican, against Gwen Collins- Greenup, and Democrat and New Orleans attorney.

Whoever is elected will get the job of replacing Louisiana’s outdated voting machines, which don’t produce the paper ballots that many people say are critical to ensuring accurate election results.

Green-up and Landry tied with 19% of the vote each at the end of the Oct. 14 primary. In Lincoln Parish, Landry barely edged out Green- up, winning 20% of the local vote to Green-up’s 18%.

The winner replace departing Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin who did not seek reelection.

The attorney general’s race, Liz Murrill, a conservative longtime deputy of now Gov.- elect Jeff Landry, faces New Orleans attorney Democrat Lindsey Cheek.

Murrill won 45% of the statewide primary vote to Cheek’s 23%. Murrill also lead the five-person primary field in Lincoln Parish with 48% of the vote to Cheek’s 23%.

The winner replaces Landry, the current attorney general, as Louisiana’s top lawyer.

Meantime, former 4th District Congressman John Fleming and Lake Charles Democrat Dustin Granger are vying for the treasurer’s job.

Fleming, a physician from Minden, also held three different appointed jobs during former President Donald Trump’s administration: deputy assistant secretary for health information technology, assistant commerce secretary for economic development, and a White House aide.

Granger is running on his experience as a financial planner and say that’s prepared him to oversee Louisiana money and investments.

Fleming won 44% of the statewide primary vote to Granger’s 32%. Granger was the only Democrat in the race.

Fleming carried Lincoln Parish’s primary vote with 54% of the vote to Granger’s 29%.