When Does Voting Begin In Louisiana?

On March 5, the people of Louisiana will head out to vote in the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries, with dozens of delegates on the line for each party. Which means, if you're a voting-age resident of the Pelican State, you'll probably want to know when to hit the polls — so, when does the Louisiana primary start?

Luckily, there's no partisan divide here like there was in South Carolina, Nevada, and in some of the Super Tuesday states, with the parties holding their events on separate days. Simply put, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you'll have an identical window of time to show up to your designated polling place. The polls will open at 6:00 a.m. CT, and will close that evening at 8:00 p.m.

As always, there's some value in showing up earlier in the day if you can, although work and life schedules sometimes get in the way. After all, even though you've got until 8:00 p.m. to get it done, you never know how much longer you might be waiting around ― even in 2016, abysmally long voting lines are nothing new to the United States. Although this might be more of a concern if you're a Republican than a Democrat ― turnout numbers for the former party's primaries have been shattering records, while for the latter, they've been down.

Also, one more fact about Louisiana that's important to note: It's one of those voter ID states. Voter ID laws are hugely controversial, considering that voter fraud is virtually nonexistent, the laws only even theoretically prevent voter impersonation ― the least sensible and most illogical form of potential fraud. Also, if there's any unavoidable monetary cost in acquiring such an ID (some states offer them for free, and some don't), that effectively amounts to an unconstitutional poll tax.

That said, that's what you'll be faced with in Louisiana come Saturday, so be prepared: You'll need a Louisiana driver's license, or another accepted form of photo identification. Absent that, you'll have to fill out a voter affidavit.

As it stands now, the Louisiana primaries don't look like they're going to be all that dramatic, with both front-runners up big heading into the voting. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is beating Vermont senator Bernie Sanders by more than 30 points, continuing her dominant run through the American South. And on the Republican side, of course, it's all about Donald Trump, who's up nearly 20 against the rest of the remaining field.