Photograph: Julius Alsandor and Purvis Morrison on election night. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
There will be virtually no change in the Opelousas city administration beginning in January when the elected municipal officials are sworn-in for another four-year term.
The final two elected positions were decided following runoff balloting Saturday night when incumbent Julius Alsandor was reelected mayor and Delita Rubin Broussard was selected as the Board of Aldermen representative from District B.
Complete but unofficial returns filed with the Secretary of State show Alsandor received 51.81 percent or 1,385 votes. Opponent Charlee Renaud Lear had 1,288 votes or 48.18 percent.
Alsandor also led Lear and two other candidates during the Nov. 6 election. It was also the second straight election that Alsandor had won in a runoff.
Board of Aldermen District B Election
Broussard was declared the District B winner last month after State District Court Judge Greg Doucet, following an investigation by the St. Landry Parish District Attorney’s Office, determined district incumbent Floyd Ford lived outside the Opelousas city limits and did not reside in the district where he was elected in 2018. The decision declared that Ford’s residency outside the city limits and the election district, disqualified Ford from running for office in District B.
Floyd, according to court records, agreed to withdraw from the runoff election against Broussard and Broussard, who finished second Nov. 6, was declared the winner.
The names of Ford and Broussard remained on the runoff ballot however and on Saturday Broussard received 284 votes. Ford got 93 votes.
Mayor’s Election
Following the election results Alsandor said during a post-election interview at Arpeggio’s, that the runoff results validated the efforts of his first four years as mayor.
“Opelousas spoke (Saturday night). Those who voted for me said that they were going to give me a chance to continue the programs we have begun and carry those over to a second term,” Alsandor said during an interview.
When asked if he considered Lear to have been a formidable opponent, Alsandor said, “In a runoff election every candidate should be considered formidable.”
Lear, who represents indigent defendants in state district court, said her runoff campaign was hurt by what she felt was a poor voter turnout on Saturday.
“We knew that in runoffs, voter turnout is usually going to be low, but what we saw (on Saturday) was disappointing,” Lear said.
It was the second attempt by Lear to become mayor of Opelousas, an elected position that she previously said that she had always wanted to attain.
“The campaign and election is just a moment. On Monday I plan to be back in court,” Lear added.
According to the results, 2,673 voted on Saturday. That amount represented about half the number of voters who cast ballots in the Nov. 6 mayoral election.
Several of Alsandor’s first administration attended the victory party at Arpeggio’s in addition to Lena Charles, executive director of the Opelousas Downtown Development District and District A Alderman Milton Batiste III.
