BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — While most of the nation has wrapped up the 2020 election cycle, Louisiana voters will start casting ballots Friday as the weeklong early voting period begins in a slate of December runoffs.

At the top of the Dec. 5 ballot is a runoff to determine which Republican will win an open U.S. House seat representing northeast and central Louisiana. The only statewide ballot issue is a constitutional amendment involving membership on Louisiana's higher education management boards. Local one-on-one contests also remain to be decided.

The runoff elections were set in any race where no candidate topped 50% of the vote in the Nov. 3 primary election. The top two vote-getters advanced to the runoff.

CONGRESSIONAL RACE

Louisiana's 5th District is the state's last congressional seat to be decided after five incumbents in other districts secured victories in the primary.

The 5th District seat is open because Republican Ralph Abraham did not seek another term after losing the governor's race last year and stuck to a campaign pledge to serve only three terms in Congress.

Nine candidates sought the seat in November, and the field was whittled to two Republicans. Abraham's chief of staff, Luke Letlow, of Richland Parish, is facing off against state Rep. Lance Harris, of Alexandria. Harris squeaked into the runoff, getting only 400-plus more votes than the Democratic third-place finisher. Abraham has endorsed Letlow for the seat.

The 5th District is largely rural, containing all or part of 24 parishes and the cities of Monroe and Alexandria.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

The only election item facing voters in every parish is a proposal to tweak the Louisiana Constitution on higher education management, placed on the ballot by state lawmakers who passed the amendment in their October special session.

The provision would allow the governor to appoint someone who lives outside of Louisiana to the state's four college management boards.

The nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, which publishes guides to amendments, said the addition of the higher education proposal to the December ballot will cost Louisiana an estimated $376,000. The organization said the amendment forced elections in four parishes without runoff competitions: Claiborne, Pointe Coupee, Red River and Sabine.

OTHER RACES

In local races, New Orleans voters will pick a new district attorney. Baton Rouge voters will determine whether to keep their Democratic mayor, Sharon Weston Broome, or replace her with a Republican, former state Rep. Steve Carter. Several judicial seats remain to be settled.

Voters in southeast Louisiana will choose whether to retain Republican Eric Skrmetta, of Metairie, on the state's utility regulatory body, the Public Service Commission, for another six-year term or oust him for a Democratic challenger, Allen H. Borne Jr., of New Orleans.

The seat on the electricity rate-setting panel covers suburban New Orleans and a portion of suburban Baton Rouge.

WHERE TO VOTE

Early voting runs from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Nov. 28 — except on Sunday; on Thanksgiving Day, which is Nov. 26; and on Friday, Nov. 27 — at parish registrar of voters’ offices and other locations. The secretary of state’s office has a complete list of early voting sites online or through its GeauxVote mobile app.

Some locations may have changed because of the coronavirus pandemic and in response to the damage of Hurricanes Laura and Delta in southwestern Louisiana.

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