New Orleans Municipal and Mayoral Elections, April-May 2006

Hurricane Katrina, August 2005 

On 25 August 2005, Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana declared a ‘State of Emergency to mobilise National Guard units in the state. At the request of Gov. Blanco, President Bush issued an emergency declaration on 27 August and a federal state of emergency in Louisiana the morning before Hurricane Katrina made landfall which would allow federal agencies to help local authorities prepare for the storm (KSLA 2005; Schneider 2008). On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the south-eastern United States, devastating the coastal areas of the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi (National Weather Service 2019). The day after the hurricane struck, the levees meant to protect the city of New Orleans failed to cause approximately 80% of the city to become flooded. The hurricane claimed more than 1,800 lives and just in Louisiana 600,000 residents were displaced, with more than a million residents displaced in the Gulf Coast region (National Flood Services 2020; Plyer 2016). Due to the slow and inadequate federal response to mobilise resources to help manage the disaster, the Bush Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Army Corps of Engineers were heavily criticised (Edwards 2015).  

On 24 September of the same year, Hurricane Rita made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border, causing the recently patched levees to fall and reflood much of the city, devastating the physical infrastructure of New Orleans. The city did not reopen to the public until October (Brox 2009).  

Impact on the electoral process  

The Municipal and Mayoral elections were postponed from December 2005 to 22 April 2006 with a runoff election on 20 May 2006. At the time of the Municipal Elections, almost two-thirds of the New Orleans population was not living in the city. Louisiana and other Gulf states lost voting equipment, polling stations were decimated, and there was an overall lack of poll workers. There was also the challenge of locating displaced survivors of the flood who had not yet established a permanent address one year following the floods (Brox 2009). 

Changes in legal framework/procedures 

For New Orleans Municipal Elections, early voting began on 10 April 2006. For five days, voters were allowed to vote early at one of the satellite voting locations established throughout the state of Louisiana. In addition, voters could cast absentee ballots through the mail. State and federal governments were able to establish an appropriate response to help get ballots to Louisiana voters through establishing early voting at an increased number of locations, new polling stations in states with many Katrina refugees, and lower barriers for those requesting an absentee ballot to be mailed to them at a different address (Brox 2009). 

Voter turnout  

Municipal elections voter turnout: 36%. (Note that voter turnout for the November 2006 Presidential elections among Louisiana residents was 31.4%) (United States Elections Project 2011).