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April 25, 2018Watching the Sheriff work
April 25, 2018
An early voting site for the residents of Central Lafourche should be open by now, some parish officials are saying.
But early voting is still only done in south Lafourche and the Thibodaux area, despite claims by council members that the money is available
“The money is there, $27,000. However, the parish president is not releasing the funds for some unknown reason,” said Council Chairman Corey Perrilloux said. “Once more, the state and the parish council have approved this idea. Now if parish administration would get on board, hopefully it could open before the fall.”
Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle said he wasn’t aware the money was in place, nor was he aware the state had approved the idea, to open an early voting site inside the parish administration building in Matthews.
Parish Administrator Tommy Lasseigne admitted that he is coordinating this effort.
“Mr. Cantrelle doesn’t know anything about it. He’s the parish president. He can’t be expected to know everything,” Lasseigne said.
Meanwhile, Lafourche Registrar of voters Michael Boudreaux said the parish president’s office has released some of the money, but is still holding $13,000.
Hearing the news, Perrilloux said the money should be fully released, because the parish administration can’t do anything else with it.
Central Lafourche residents represent one third of the voters in the parish Their communities include Bayou Blue, Matthews, Raceland, Kraemer, Gheens, Valentine, Lockport and Des Allemands.
For years, these voters have had to early vote in Thibodaux, at the registrar of voters office or in Galliano, inside the library building.
Perrilloux said he took office in Jan of 2016, and was soon after approached by several residents of the district, asking for his help in establishing an every voting site.
“I learned that the parish would need approval from the Secretary of State’s office to establish an early voting site,” he said.
So Perrilloux scheduled a meeting in March of 2017, with Secretary of State Tom Schedler and Angie Rogers, commissioner of elections.
“During the meeting it was determined that an early voting polling place could be established in the Mathews Government Complex for $27,000. This included a dedicated, secured communication line required to transmit results back to Baton Rouge,” Perrilloux said.
After communicating the cost and opportunity, the Lafourche Parish Council created a budget amendment in November 2017 for the amount of $27,000 to create the early polling place. The amendment passed and the funds are now available to complete this process,” he said.
However, Perrilloux said Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle is not releasing the funds to the Registrar’s office.
“This is a similar tactic he’s used as he’s refused to release funds that were allocated to different entities such as the town of Golden Meadow for seawall flood protection, the City of Thibodaux for recreation funding, and the Commission For Women for their annual women’s summit at Nicholls State University,” Perrilloux said.
Lafourche Parish Registrar of Voters Michael Boudreaux said Parish President Cantrelle has released some of the funds, but is still holding $13,0000.
“We’re in the middle of an election right now for a school board seat – this is a small ballot and it would have been a great tool for us to work out any possible kinks in the room where the early voting will be held,” Boudreaux said.
Perilloux said no nearby site for early voting is an inconvenience, especially to senior citizens.
“The residents of Central Lafourche deserve to be better served than they have been. It is an inconvenience, especially to our senior citizens who aren’t afforded the same opportunities to cast their ballots as the northern and southern parts of the parish,” he said.
Raymond Toups and Chris Lagarde are currently candidates in the race for the Lafourche Parish School Board District 4 seat. Early voting for the seat was over the last two weeks.
However, both men said they were unaware that an early voting site had been approved for Lafourche Parish.
Toups, the interim school board member, said he was working a heavy early voting campaign, using family and friends to bring and remind District 4 resident to early vote or vote on election day.
Lagarde said he hoped the early voting site would be open by this fall.
Lasseigne said he has high hopes for the site to be open by the fall, however working every small detail with the state is rather time consuming, as the office will have to be linked with the secretary of state’s office.
“This process can’t be done any faster than what it is,” Lasseigne said.
Cantrelle said the lack of an early voting site in Central Lafourche was one of the issues he campaigned on. “I’m all for it,” he said.
