Who is Chris ‘Emy’? Judician candidate wonders

Forgotten Carols – VCHS choir joins stars in local production
October 30, 2012
Lafourche slashes building permit fees
October 30, 2012
Forgotten Carols – VCHS choir joins stars in local production
October 30, 2012
Lafourche slashes building permit fees
October 30, 2012

Houma-based assistant district attorney and candidate for the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals judgeship of Dist. 1, Div. B, Chris Erny has issued a complaint. The problem is how his name appears on 3,887 absentee mail-in ballots sent to registered voters listing residence in eight Louisiana parishes.

Due to a pagination problem with the paper ballots, voters using them will see the Republican candidate’s name appear as “J. Christopher Emy” rather than the correct “J. Christopher Erny.”


“What happened is I had a couple of phone calls,” Erny said. “The first one I got, I thought was somebody that didn’t see or understand [the ballot], but then I got two or three more. People like my dad were calling and saying ‘I didn’t see Erny on the ballot.’”


Due to a font style selected for printing the ballot the “r” and “n” in Erny’s name run together to appear as the letter “m.” This is a particular problem for the visually impaired, the candidate said, and an issue for other voters that might look specifically for his name and not realize it is the same person. Even magnifying the ballot to 400 percent its size does not make the name appear any clearer.

“I went over to the registrar’s office and we were looking under a magnifying glass, and you can’t see any separation between the ‘r’ and the ‘n’,” Erny said. “We checked with the Secretary of State and they said, ‘Ah, it’s not an error.’ Well, you got to treat it like an error.”


In the Tri-parish region alone, 708 of the mail-in ballots were sent to voters listing Terrebonne Parish as their residence, Lafourche Parish election officials mailed 411 ballots to voters and 525 St. Mary Parish voters received paper ballots.


Additional parishes where the paper ballot problem is noticed include Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee and West Baton Rouge.

When asked about the ballot, the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office said nothing could be done to compensate for the situation.


“I am aware of the Erny campaign’s complaint concerning spacing on absentee paper ballots,” Secretary of State Tom Schedler said in an emailed statement. “Ballot spacing for presidential elections has been problematic before and I have offered legislation that would result in additional printing space, but to date we have not been completely successful.

“We will continue our efforts during the upcoming legislative session and hopefully convince the Legislature to assist in this matter for future elections,” he continued.

Erny said he does not know if he will battle the ballot appearance or not, but will consider his returns. “If we miss the runoff by certain number of votes and it is within that number, then I think we have grounds to contest it,” he said. The candidate did not reveal what range of votes he would consider questionable, but took a more optimistic approach by stating if it is close or he has a lead there would be no reason to argue results. However, he confirmed legal action is considered an option.

“If we are well ahead, we won’t have to worry about it,” Erny said. “I think we have [nine] days to contest it.”

Erny admitted his situation is “frustrating” but said the Secretary of State office does “an excellent job.” He views the ballot issue as an oversight during proofreading. “They just didn’t realize that the bold type made [the ‘r’ and ‘n’] look like an ‘m,’” he said.

Erny is among a field of four candidates seeking to replace Judge Edward Gaidry upon his retirement from the bench. Additional contenders include 18th District Court Judge William Dupont, who is the only Democrat among a field of Republicans.

Municipal magistrate and former state Rep. Mitch Theriot is on the ballot as is former Baker city judge Mark Plaisance.

“We are at a little disadvantage, but, hopefully, we will get enough support that it is not an issue,” Erny said. “We’re working hard and done basically all we can do. All we can do now is hope people take and run with it.”

Chris Erny