St. Mary voters will settle runoffs when early voting opens Friday

Early voting begins Friday for the runoff elections scheduled for Dec. 5, when voters in St. Mary will help decide runoffs for two 16th Judicial District judgeships, and Morgan City voters will pick a new mayor.
Early in-person voting will be 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. each day through Nov. 28. No voting will be conducted Sunday, Nov. 22; Thursday, Nov. 26, which is Thanksgiving; and Friday, Nov. 27, which Louisiana observes as Acadian Day. Voters get an extra day to cast ballots early because of the holidays.
Regardless of where you live in St. Mary, you can vote early either at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin or the Registrar of Voters Office at 301 Third St. in Morgan City.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot from the registrar is Dec. 1. Absentee ballots must be received by the registrar no later than Dec. 4, except for military absentee ballots, which may be received up to 8 p.m. Dec. 5.
The 16th JDC Election Section 2, Division F runoff pits Anthony “Tony” Saleme of Morgan City against Natalie Broussard of New Iberia.
Broussard, who is currently an Iberia Parish Council member, was the leader in an evenly divided primary Nov. 3. She got 38% of the vote. Saleme received 32% to edge St. Martinville attorney Keith Thibodeaux out of the second runoff spot.
Saleme is running on his experience as a prosecutor in the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, where he has served since 1997, most recently handling criminal cases in St. Mary.
Broussard points to her experience on the Iberia council as well as in a general law practice representing clients in civil and criminal cases.
The other 16th JDC runoff is in Election Section 1, Division H between Roger P. Hamilton Jr. and “Alicia” Butler.
Hamilton was the top vote-getter in the primary with 45% of the vote. Butler got 32% to beat Thailund “Thai” Porter-Green for the second runoff spot. Porter-Green drew 22% of the runoff vote.
The 16th JDC covers St. Mary, St. Martin and Iberia parishes.
In Morgan City, former Parish Council member Kevin Voisin and businessman Lee Dragna are vying to succeed Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi as mayor.
Dragna received 48% of the primary vote. Voisin finished with 38% to beat political newcomer Don Hicks’ 14%.
Dragna has served on local government boards. But he has campaigned mainly on his record as a businessman, building LAD Services from a small barge-building company into an enterprise with hundreds of employees.
Voisin also has experience in business, but his key campaign point is his 20 years as a Parish Council member, which included service as chair of the council’s finance committee.
Time and again in forum appearances, Voisin talked about bringing people together to tackle issues such as economic development and diversification, downtown revitalization and housing.
A proposed amendment would allow the governor to appoint up to two out-of-state residents to serve on each of the state’s three college system government boards.