House likes idea of changing percentage of signatures for recall petitions

<p class="p1">BATON ROUGE — A bill changing the percentage of voters who must sign recall petitions in larger voting districts cleared the House this week with an 88-3 vote and is awaiting Senate action.</p><p class="p1">Rep. Paul Hollis, R-Covington, is sponsoring House Bill 362, a measure he got through the House last year. However, it died in the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. The vote last year was 69-28.</p><p class="p1">Current law requires that 40 percent of the voters in districts with 1,000 or fewer voters must sign recall petitions. Hollis’ measure keeps that requirement, but sets up three other proposed categories.</p><p class="p1">Recall petitions would require 331⁄3 percent of the voters in districts with 1,000 to 24,999 voters, 25 percent in districts from 25,000 to 99,999 voters, and 20 percent with 100,000 or more voters.</p><p class="p1">Reps. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles; Mike Danahay, D-Sulphur; Stephen Dwight, R-Moss Bluff; A.B. Franklin, D-Lake Charles; Johnny Guinn, R-Jennings; and Frank Howard, R-Many, voted for the bill. Reps. James Armes, D-Leesville; Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville; and Dorothy Sue Hill, D-Dry Creek, were reported as absent. Hill is on a medical leave of absence.</p><p class="p1">Those filing recall petitions would have 180 days to get their signatures. The petitions would have to contain a clear statement of the reason or reasons for the recall. Petitions would have to be filed with every registrar of voters in the voting district. If sufficient signatures are verified by the registrar, the governor would have to call a recall election.</p><p class="p1">Recall elections aren’t possible if less than six months remain in a term of office. Once a signature is obtained, the recall petition becomes a public record. All signatures have to be handwritten. Additional details about recall election are available at the secretary of state’s website, www.sos.la.gov.</p><p class="p1">From 1966 to 2013, 113 recall petitions were filed and 71 officials were recalled. The other recall elections either failed at the polls or the officials involved resigned. </p><p class="p1">Three recall elections have been held or scheduled since 2014, according to the website. A council member in Ascension Parish was recalled in 2014, and a Washington chief of police was recalled in 2016. An effort to recall an alderman in Mansfield in 2016 failed. A council member in Gonzales resigned in 2014 prior to the recall election.</p>

SportsPlus

life

SW La. nightlife calendar: There’s always something to do

Local News

Trump announces commission on religious liberty, White House Faith Office

McNeese Sports

Traveling man

Local News

Jennings High Key Club using grant to increase access to books

Local News

Program aimed at helping city workers buy homes

Local News

Several area schools named after Black education pioneers, local legends

Crime

LC man accused of going on crime spree

McNeese Sports

Back to their roots

Jim Beam

Jim Beam column:Second Harvest news unsettling

Local News

Meet the candidates: Five throw hat in ring for mayor’s race

McNeese Sports

SLC games set for McNeese

McNeese Sports

Cowgirls look for four-peat

Local News

UPDATE: Drug charges against veterinarian cleared of rape dropped

Local News

Cassidy, Senate committee advances Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nomination to be health secretary

Business

Waffle House adds surcharge to eggs as massive bird flu outbreak leads to soaring prices

Local News

Federal judge blocks enforcement of La. police ‘buffer-zone’ law

Local News

Louisiana Armed Forces Alliance opens new offices

Local News

NY shields abortion pill prescribers after doctor indicted in La.

McNeese Sports

Cowboys win by a tick

Business

Wall Street swerves lower after Trump announces tariffs and then puts some on hold

Local News

A heart for kids: New Big Brothers Big Sisters CEO driven to help others

McNeese Sports

Hot-shooting Nicholls guns down Pokes

McNeese Sports

Cowgirls struggle early, fall to Nicholls

Informer

The Informer: Floods followed in wake of 1940 Gulf Coast storm