BOUDREAUX NAMED NEW REGISTRAR OF VOTERS IN LAFOURCHE

The Lafourche Parish Council appointed Michael Boudreaux as the parish’s new registrar of voters.

The council approved Boudreaux, a Thibodaux native and district manager for elections for the Louisiana Secretary of State, at last week’s council meeting. Six council members approved his appointment, with Daniel Lorraine being the only one to vote no and James Bourgeois and Jerry LaFont absent.

Boudreaux is replacing Mary Doucet, the previous registrar who died in April this year. The council established a committee comprised of Council Members LaFont, Jerry Jones and Aaron Melvin to choose the next registrar and to narrow down the search to three finalists. Gretch-en Caillouet and Tammy Wen-delschaefer, the interim registrar since Doucet’s death, joined Boudreaux as the committee’s top three.

The council was set to vote on each of the three at Tuesday’s meeting. However, once any one candidate received a majority he or she would become appointed registrar. Boudreaux was the first candidate to be voted on, and he received a majority and thus the position. He said he would like to improve precincts

in the parish to make it voting easier for Lafourche residents and also continue youth election outreach.

“I’m looking forward to it, and I’d like to work on getting better precincts for the parish. So far, we haven’t jumped on board as far as meeting the federal standards as far as precincts,” Boudreaux said. “I’d really like to get the young kids involved as far as getting them to register to vote.”

Boudreaux said he would like to continue the Our Bayou Votes campaign, an outreach program started by Lafourche Clerk of Court Annette Fontana particularly focused on getting young people registered and familiar with the voting process. He said the program was able to register over 200 seniors at South Lafourche High School in one day.

Boudreaux, who oversaw election machines for Lafourche, among other parishes, stressed the importance of improving precincts in the parish. He used the old Golden Settlement School as an example, saying its lack of accessibility and poor conditions were one of a number of precincts that do not meet federal precinct standards. He said the improvement of precincts is critical to making voting as easy a process as possible for citizens.

“Some precincts in this parish, there’s no reason why people should be getting out in the mud or limestone or gravel to get up to go vote. Ours should be handicap-accessible, real convenient for the voter,” Boudreaux said.

Lafourche’s new registrar said he wanted to wait to be sworn in until he finished work with Secretary of State on this past weekend’s election, which included a race for the State Senate District 2 seat. Boudreaux said once he finished election work, he would be ready to step down from that position and join Lafourche fulltime. He said he plans to work with Fontana and the council to institute the changes and improvements he wishes to see in Lafourche.

“Between me and the new clerk and I think this council, I think it can all come around and make it easier for the voter,” Boudreaux said.