Absentee balloting and Hurrican Katrina

Today's story highlights something I had not considered yet in the aftermath of the tragedy that has beset Louisiana and Mississippi. Both states will be conducting elections in the next 14 months, a period in which hundreds of thousand of displaced citizens may not have moved back to their homes.

How will these citizens cast a ballot? Will they be allowed to cast absentee ballots? Louisiana law allows an absentee ballot for those "expected to be absent from their parish on election day." Are the parishes ready to handle nearly 1,000,000 absentee ballot requests?

And what does the future hold for Louisiana's second district, if the New Orleans population declines, as some predictions hold, by nearly 50%?

Elections are not on anyone's mind, and rightfully so. But within a few months, as candidates begin to consider runs for office, they will face a ew landscape in Louisiana politics.