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Early voting starts Saturday; capital region's races and tax elections listed here

5 hours 49 minutes 33 seconds ago Friday, March 14 2025 Mar 14, 2025 March 14, 2025 11:31 AM March 14, 2025 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE — Early voting opens Saturday for the March 29 general election. Statewide, four proposed constitutional amendments are on the ballot and in East Baton Rouge Parish, St. George will hold its first election for city offices.

Polls open at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and close at 6 p.m. Some parishes have multiple locations for early voting and some could operate under different hours. Check www.geauxvote.org for more information.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2 has drawn the most attention heading into the election given a high-profile legal challenge against it.

Louisiana’s constitution requires that the language to be put before voters adequately match what the proposed amendment would do, and that it address only a single subject. For Amendment 2, lawmakers boiled down a 115-page amendment to a paragraph, and opponents say it deals with too many topics.

The amendment’s heart deals with how Louisiana raises revenue and spends it, but according to PAR Louisiana, the former Public Affairs Research Council, the ballot language doesn’t fully explain how wide reaching the question really is.

Amendment 1 would let the state Supreme Court discipline out-of-state lawyers for shoddy legal work in Louisiana and let lawmakers create special courts that cross parish or judicial district boundaries.

Amendment 3 would let lawmakers more easily expand the list of felony offenses as they pertain to juveniles being prosecuted as adults. As of now, voters must weigh in.

Amendment 4 would change the election calendar for judgeships so they could be held with regular, general elections. As of now, new judges must be elected within a year.

Voters in East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes have only the proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot.

In the southeastern portion of East Baton Rouge Parish, voters in St. George will choose a new mayor from between interim Mayor Dustin Yates and businessman Jim Morgan. Both are Republicans.

Three of seven council seats are also competitive; four have already been settled.

The new council is guaranteed to have a Republican majority; four Republicans were unopposed in their contests and at least one Republican will win an at-large seat, giving the GOP five spots.

Four Republicans and a Democrat are seeking a pair of at-large seats, and two Republicans and two independents are seeking a single seat.

Voters in the new city are being asked to approve a Home Rule Charter, as well. Also in East Baton Rouge Parish, residents of the Wedgewood crime prevention district are being asked to renew a $95 annual fee that raises about $61,000 a year. Businesses would pay $250 a year.

Elsewhere in the region:

Ascension Parish voters are being asked to delete language in their Home Rule Charter laying out an annual salary that doesn’t exceed the amount authorized for police jurors under state law. Also, in Sorrento, four Democrats and three Republicans are running for five at-large council seats.

In Assumption Parish, members of the Bayou Pierre Part North Gravity Drainage District will consider a $50 parcel fee that raises $700 a year.

Voters in Livingston, St. Helena and Tangipahoa parishes will select a new judge for the 21st Judicial District. Division I has three Republicans seeking the seat. A runoff is possible.

Also, the town of Killian in Livingston Parish will elect a mayor and five council members. Eleven people are running for the council posts.

St. James Parish voters will consider a 12.5-mill renewal for the sheriff’s office. If renewed, the property tax will raise about $9.5 million a year.

St. Mary voters in District 7 of the local school board, the area outside of Franklin, will pick a board member from between a Republican and an independent.

The village of Tangipahoa is picking two aldermen from three candidates, and parishwide Tangipahoa Parish voters will take up a permanent three-quarter cent sales tax that would benefit the sheriff’s office. It’s estimated to raise about $25 million a year.

Also, Tangipahoa Parish voters will take up a 4.98-mill property tax renewal that would raise $3 million a year for mosquito control.

A pair of property tax renewals await voters in West Baton Rouge Parish. A 7.2-mill tax would raise $5.9 million for drainage works, while a 4.1-mill tax is set to raise nearly $3.4 million for the library system.

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