Photograph: St. Landry Parish voters prepare to enter the Courthouse early Saturday morning during the first day of early voting. (Photograph by Freddie Herpin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
A political campaign atmosphere flooded downtown Opelousas early Saturday as a week of early voting began at the St. Landry Parish Courthouse.
Motorists were met with individuals flashing street candidate signs at nearly every downtown street corner, as voting lines began forming in front of the courthouse steps.
Registrar of Voters Byron Stelly expects a voter turnout as high as 65 percent during the seven days of early voting which last until Oct. 7.
“We are preparing for a large turnout because of the large ballot involving state offices. There are a lot of local and heated races parish wide. From what I have seen from the number of mail-in ballots we have received, the early voting should be heavy,” Stelly said during a Friday interview.
Stelly said the Registrar’s Office had received 634 mail-in ballots by 3 p.m. on Friday.
“We mailed out around 2,700, so based on the number we have already received, that is giving us an indication that we should have a large number of people voting,” Stelly said.
When Can You Vote?
With the exception of Sunday’s, the Courthouse and Eunice City Hall will be open beginning at 8:30 a.m. for early voting.
The polls close at 6 p.m. during each day of early voting at both locations.
The Registrar’s Office is also accepting the mail-in ballots, said Stelly.
Mail-in ballots will be accepted if they are hand delivered at both the Opelousas and Eunice polling places, Stelly said.
However the deadline for mail-in ballot acceptance from the Registrar of Voters Office is 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 13, Stelly said, unless individuals are located in the military overseas.
Stelly added that sample ballots can be obtained from the Registrar of Voters Office upon request.
Individual Parish Races
Many potential St. Landry parish wide elections scheduled Oct. 14 featured candidates who were unopposed.
Those parish races with no opposition included parish president, sheriff, coroner and assessor.
Several Parish Council more than half of the incumbents are also unopposed. Those include Council members who represent election districts 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 12.
Current Council chairman Jerry Red, Jr. faces opposition from Jody White in District 1, while in District 5, Harold Taylor is being challenged by Roy Harrington.
Sunset-area Councilwoman Vivian Olivier has opposition from Joey Richard in District 8, while District 9 incumbent Wayne Ardoin faces challenger Mike Fontenot.
In District 11, which is perhaps the largest St. Landry geographic district incumbent Timothy LeJeune is being contested by Cedric Joubert.
The most contested Council race occurs in the Eunice-area District 13. Three candidates are competing for the Council seat left vacant by Coby Clavier.
Ernest Blanchard, James “Donnie” Fontenot and Leward Lafleur have qualified for the District 13 election.
State Representative, Clerk of Court and District Judges
Incumbent Dustin Miller is facing a challenge from Allen Guillory in District 40, while in Division C of the 27th Judicial District, three candidates are seeking the vacancy that occurred after Ledricka Thierry won an election for the Third Circuit Court of Appeal.
Charles Jagneaux, the Clerk of Court incumbent, is being challenged by Jan Deville.
Two Opelousas attorneys – Jarvis Claiborne and Scherri Guidry – are competing along with former St. Landry Parish District Attorney Charles Cravins for the position in District C.
Opelousas Elections
The Opelousas Board of Alderman seat in District A features four candidates in contention.
Although current District A alderman Milton Batiste III, could have continued to represent District A following his selection as St. Landry School Superintendent Batiste chose to surrender the elected municipal position due to the workload scheduled within the School District.
John Guilbeaux, Victor Lewis, Dontae Sonnier and Vanessa Brown Sostand are the qualified District A candidates.
