“This was so easy,” he said, smiling. “There’s no sense in just sitting there. Life is too short.”
Max and his wife, Colleen, 84, were two of hundreds of St. Tammany residents to cast early votes for the Nov. 4 presidential election in what could be a record setting year, Dwayne Wall, St. Tammany Registrar of Voters, said.
  
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Already, voting rolls boast the largest statewide turnout in recent memory.
In the first day of early voting alone, 29,249 ballots were cast statewide, compared to 13,980 ballots cast in the first day of early voting a year ago, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
In Covington, where voters waited on average 30 to 40 minutes, 1,618 votes were cast on the first day, a more than 100 percent surge from 718 votes cast during first day of early voting in the governor’s race a year ago, Wall said.
“If it keeps up like this, it will be the most (early votes) we’ve ever seen. Record setting,” Wall said. “The only thing that came close was the Edwards/ Duke race.”
Milton Schabel, 84, credits the turnout to the Iraq war.
A World War II veteran, Schabel said the war is inexplicable tied to the nation’s slumping economy and stills play an important role in deciding the nation’s next leader.
“Something had to be done after we were hit (on Sept. 11, 2001). You just can’t let that go,” he said. “And now I want someone to stand up for us if we ever do go to war again.”
Schabel and friend Archie Ansardi, 77, a Korean War veteran, both sported canes as they parked at the Justice Center in Covington Wednesday and asked directions to the handicap-accessible elevator to go vote.
Both said at their age it is easier to stand in line for 30 minutes than wait for hours during Nov. 4 turnouts, when as much as 80 percent of registered voters may turn out. As is, Schabel planned to wait in the line while Ansardi rested on nearby benches stretched 100 or so people long.
“We can’t stand that long, but this is everyone’s right to vote,” Ansardi said. “And we’re going to do it.”
Ryan Rodgers agreed. The 30-minute wait wasn’t so bad to fulfill an American’s basic right, he said.
“You might as well expect (the wait) when you come,” he said. “Get it out of the way. I already know who I am voting for, so why not?”
The Gonzales couple agreed. They already had a candidate picked out, plus Colleen may have to have cataract surgery Nov. 4.
“We didn’t want to take that chance,” she said.
At the Registrar of Voters office on Military Road in Slidell, the scene was not quite as calm.
A long line stretched from the office into the parking lot.
The St. Tammany Parish Administration Building in Slidell is a series of trailers, and it was cramped inside the Registrar of Voters office.
One Slidell voter, Gerrel Ehlers, was finally at the head of the line after an hour wait. She looked down the hall at the line, shook her head and laughed.
“To think I am voting early so I would avoid the long lines,” Ehlers said.
Outside in the parking lot, a lone St. Tammany Sheriff’s deputy and a crew of St. Tammany Parish Jail inmates were busy directing traffic through the narrow gates and telling people where to park.
“It was a lot worse yesterday,” the deputy said. He said the biggest problem was just getting the large number of cars in and out of the small parking lot. “I hope this ends soon,” he added.
Like Ehlers, most of the people in line had come to avoid the expected long lines at the polls on Nov. 4.
“I didn’t want to risk the chance of not being able to vote on Nov. 4,” said Slidell resident Juan Price. “I came here yesterday, but the line was too long.”
Others like Sandra Schmitt and her husband, Leo, actually had a very practical reason for voting early.
“We’ll be out of town on a cruise on Nov. 4,” Sandra said.
“I think next year I’ll file for absentee voting,” Leo said with a grin.
By Wednesday afternoon, Wall said 3,000 people had voted early out of 155,000 registered voters in St. Tammany Parish.
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