Candidates Qualify for Central Elections

Qualifying opened on Wednesday, Feb. 12 for candidates seeking to run in Central’s municipal elections, which are scheduled for Saturday, April 5.  Clerk of Court Doug Welborn accepted papers from Central candidates on the first day of qualifying.  By 12 noon, 14 candidates had qualified for Mayor, Police Chief, and five seats on the Central City Council.  Later in the day, another candidate qualified at the Clerk’s office downtown.  Seeking office will be

Mayor — Dave Freneaux and Jr. Shelton, both Republicans

Police Chief — Kerry Clark and James Salsbury, both Republicans.

Central City Council (five to be elected) — June Dupuy, Jason Ellis, Shane Evans, Dr. Kim Fralick, Eric Frank, Mike Gardner, Councilman Wayne Messina (incumbent), Councilman Aaron Moak (incumbent), Harry Rauls, John Vance, and Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Washington (incumbent), all Republicans.

One week after the close of qualifying, the Louisiana Board of Ethics filed a civil lawsuit to have Councilman Ralph Washington disqualified from running for reelection, based on an alleged failure to file a campaign report timely and pay a $100 penalty.  Washington contested the matter at trial before District Judge Tim Kelley at the new Parish Courthouse in downtown Baton Rouge.

After a trial on the merits, Judge Kelley threw out the lawsuit, saying there was no evidence that the Mayor Pro-Tem intentionally violated the law and that disqualifying him would be an injustice.  The State of Louisiana had 24 hours to file an appeal in the case, but it failed to do so, and Ralph Washington’s name will appear on the election ballot on Saturday, April 5.

The deadline for registering to vote in the April 5 election was March 5.  Early voting for the April 5 primary will be Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29.

If necessary, a runoff election in will be held on Saturday, May 3.  The deadline for registering to vote in the May 3 runoff will be April 4.

Since there are only two candidates for Mayor and two candidates for Police Chief, those races will be decided on April 5.

However, it is possible that a runoff will be necessary for some of the Council races.

Under state law, any candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast on April 5 will be elected, unless more than five candidates receive a majority, in which case, only the top five will be elected.  It is mathematically possible for more than five candidates to get a majority.

If fewer than five candidates receive a majority in the April 5 primary, there will be a runoff.  The runoff will be for the unfilled seats.  The number of candidates in the runoff will equal the number of unfilled seats times two.  So, if four candidates are elected in the primary, the runoff will include the next two highest vote-getters.  If three candidates are elected in the primary, the runoff for the remaining two seats will be among the next four highest vote-getters from the primary.

Each voter can vote for up to five candidates for the Council.  A majority is determined adding the votes of all the candidates, dividing by five and then dividing by two.  If a candidate receives more than that, he has a majority.

Five city officials are not seeking reelection — Mayor Mac Watts, Police Chief Donald Browning, and Councilmen Louis DeJohn and Dr. Tony LoBue.

The new city officials will be sworn in on July 1, 2014.