UPDATE: Elton mayor has deadline of Dec. 28 to refile after judge allows recall effort to proceed
Published 4:31 pm Friday, December 15, 2023
- Elton Mayor Kesia Skinner Lemoine
A district court judge has ruled that a recall election seeking to remove Elton Mayor Kesia Lemoine from office can proceed.
The decision, handed down during a brief hearing Friday, rejects Lemoine’s request for an injunction to halt the recall election and gives her until Dec. 28 to refile the lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order contesting the election.
Connor Junkin, attorney for the Secretary of State’s office, said a proclamation calling for the election was filed Wednesday by Gov. John Bel Edwards with the Secretary of State’s Office setting the election for Saturday, April 27.
District Judge Steve Gunnell also dismissed Jeff Davis Parish Registrar of Voters Joanna Blair from the lawsuit.
Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Wale said there was no case for action against the registrar of voters to entitle Lemoine for the relief she is seeking in the lawsuit. He further argued that there were no significant allegations against the registrar of voters and asked the court to remove her from the lawsuit.
“The registrar of voters is required to certify the petition, which she did,” Wale said.
He said the secretary of state, not the registrar of voters, should be the defendant.
The lawsuit seeking the temporary restraining order and an injunction to stop the recall election was filed Monday in the 31st Judicial District Court by Lake Charles attorney Kamie Dominic, on behalf of Lemoine, after questions were raised concerning discrepancies with addresses and voter registration of those who signed the petition calling for her removal.
The lawsuit also questioned the competency of Blair as registrar of voters claiming she failed to conduct a thorough investigation into the recall petition.
Lemoine, who declined to comment after the hearing, contends that removing her from office will result in damages to her reputation, personal stress, emotional toll, career limitations and impact her family.
The original lawsuit named Gov. John Bel Edwards, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin and Jeff Davis Parish Registrar of Voters Joann Blair as defendants. Petition organizers Jared Trahan and Marilyn Granger were also listed as defendants.
Trahan and Granger began the recall petition in August. It was certified by the Registrar of Voters in November as containing 249 certified signatures. Only 245, or 40 percent of the town’s active 612 voters, needed to sign the petition.
The effort is the second attempt to remove Lemoine from office since she began her term in January.
In May, former mayoral candidates Brandon Kelly and Brandilyn Soileau unsuccessfully filed a recall petition against Lemoine. It was rejected after it failed to obtain the required number of valid signatures. Of the 322 signatures, only one was deemed valid.
