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Was it ballot fatigue? Louisiana voters reject all four statewide proposals at polls
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BATON ROUGE — Louisiana voters rejected all four amendments put before them Saturday, and experts say there were signs early on they wouldn't pass.
Amendment 2 supporters thought it had something for everyone — tax exemptions for seniors, teacher pay raises, and capping the income tax — but experts say that wasn't enough for folks to vote "yes." and that may have affected other races.
John Couvillon, a pollster for JMC analytics, says Amendment 2 had a few factors working against it, including that it was overly complicated.
Last December, voters approved all four proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot, and only 11 percent of the electorate turned out to vote then. For Saturday's election, the turnout was nearly twice as much. Couvillon says that's extremely unusual.
Another factor, he says Gov. Jeff Landry's team didn't start campaigning early enough.
"They should have started their campaigning probably in the third week of February and had a saturation level campaign for the ensuing month, rather than acting like the kid who's studying for a final exam 15 minutes before they start," Couvillon said.
Dadrius Lanus, the director of the Louisiana Democratic Party and a member of the East Baton Rouge School Board, said he was especially concerned with Amendment 3, which could have increased the number of crimes for which juveniles can be charged as an adult.
"Anytime you're talking about charging kids with crimes rather than putting forth community violence prevention-based programs, programs that show them how they can be model citizens, that should always be the first thing, Not to just go out and open jails," Lanus said.
Couvillon says it's likely those who were against Amendment 2 carried many voters to the polls.
"You were going to have some people that did not like what they saw on Amendment 2 and they took that anger out on the other three amendments," he said.
Another casualty was the St. George proposal for a home rule charter that would have allowed its council to hire a city manager.
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