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With national politics running hot and heavy, Louisiana voters will have to wait a month before they can take part in the presidential nomination process.
Primary election day will be Saturday, March 23. Early voting runs March 9-16, except, as usual, the Sunday during that early voting week.
St. Mary Registrar of Voters Terri Foulcard offered a caution: Presidential Preference Primary voting is limited to registered members of the Republican and Democratic parties.
As of Feb. 1, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, St. Mary’s 31,653 registered voters included 11,792 registered Democrats and 10,488 registered Republicans. That’s in a parish that gave Republican Donald J. Trump 58% majorities in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
The parish has 9,373 voters registered as members of other parties or no party, and are ineligible to participate in the major party presidential primary.
Foulcard urged voters to check their registration information for party affiliation. The deadline for changes and new registrations is Feb. 21 at the Registrar of Voters Office, or March 2 for online changes or new registrations via geauxvote.com
The offices in St. Mary are at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin and at 301 Third St., Morgan City.
In the Democratic primary, 54 delegates are at stake, awarded proportionately based on the election results. Forty-seven delegates are at stake in the Louisiana GOP’s winner-take-all system.
It remains to be seen whether there will be a real primary race by the time Louisiana votes.
No prominent challengers have emerged to run against incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.
Louisiana Republicans will see nine candidates on the primary ballot. But the biggest names among challengers to Trump have largely dropped out: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida; former governors Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Chris Christie of New Jersey; and Vivek Ramaswamy.
That leaves former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as the last widely known challenger to Trump. After losing to the former president in Iowa and New Hampshire, Haley is pinning her hopes on her home state’s Republican primary Feb. 24 and Michigan Feb. 27.
March 5, nearly three weeks before Louisiana’s primaries, is Super Tuesday, when 15 states, including California and Texas, hold primaries and apportion about a third of the delegates in either party process.
Though a Biden-Trump rematch seems inevitable, huge uncertainties cloud the picture: Biden’s low approval ratings, a series of crises in the Middle East, and criminal and civil charges against Trump.
Still, it’s not clear there will be a meaningful nomination race by the time Louisiana Democrats and Republicans cast primary ballots.
Presidential candidates will not appear alone on the March 23 ballot. Both major parties will elect members for their parish executive committees and state central committees.
Here are the results of qualifying for party offices:
Democratic State
Central Committee
District 50 A
Alfreida Edwards, Franklin
District 50 B
Ajani Connor
Woodrow J. Parker
District 51 B
Howard Castay
Ralphon Triggs
Democratic Parish
Executive
Committee
At Large
(5 to be elected)
Benjamin Anderson
Alfreida Edwards
Jonathan B. Jones
Sam Jones
Oray Rogers
District 1
Lue Pearl Washington
District 2
Ella P. Hamilton
District 3
Donald E. Hahn Sr.
District 6
Lenny J. Dartez
District 8
Ann W. Poole
At-Large District 9
Gary M. Wiltz
At-Large District 10
Shelia Ann Jones
At-Large District 11
Howard Castay
Woodrow J. Parker.
Republican State
Central Committee
District 21 A
Matthew Gulotta
Chet Howard
District 21 B
Christian Gil
District 21 E
Ira “Joseph” Bourg
Stephen Swiber
Republican Parish
Executive
Committee
At-Large
(5 to be elected)
Christian Gil
Elise Gil
Rodney Gil
District 2
Chet Howard

PATTERSON — The City Council on Tuesday took a step toward patching a hole in the 2023-24 budget. And a Mill Road resident asked the council to fix a sewer system defect that makes his life miserable every time it rains.
Chief Financial Officer Reginald Weary asked for and obtained council approval for permission to transfer up to $1 million in funds, although he hopes not all that money will be needed.
At its Jan. 2 meeting, the council learned about a potential $367,000 shortfall in the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30. The original 2023-24 budget projected a surplus of $489,000.
Engineering expenses accounted for the biggest single piece of the unexpected expenses, about $355,000. About $200,000 of that total is related to the city’s new water plant, which is designed to operate with fewer chemicals than a conventional plant.
But the current plant lacks storage, which means it must run more often, costing more for labor and chemicals. An upgrade being designed now includes water storage.
The labor demands contributed to a $60,000 overtime bill for all city departments through the first six months of the budget year.
The money to which Weary asked for access Tuesday includes two certificates of deposit representing money left over in a fund that had been used to repay bonds. One of the CDs matures next week, and the other in April.
Weary also suggested tapping into a utility contingency fund.
Weary said that since last month, overtime has been reduced, and Police Chief Garrett Grogan said the department is cutting down on other expenses, too.
Weary said after the meeting that he’s hoping to avoid one of the suggested cost-cutting measures, a citywide reduction in the work week to 36 hours. Administrative employees at City Hall already work a 36-hour week.
Patterson is not alone among cities in having budget problems, Mayor Rodney Grogan said.
“There’s no frivolous spending, for inquiring minds,” Grogan said.
The resident with the sewer system nightmare is Howard Parker. His home is on Mill Road, which runs east from La. 182 near the Patterson Bridge.
With a polite demeanor barely covering his frustration, Parker said the taps and toilets in his home become unusable when rain falls. His family is forced to use the backyard as a substitute for the bathroom — in the rain, he noted.
When rain is in the weather forecast, the Parkers hurry to do the laundry and fill the bathtubs with water for use when the tap stops working.
Parker believes the problem is infiltration into the sewer system, which affects a handful of other homes in the Mill Road-McGee Road area and which sends sewage into nearby Bayou Teche.
He said he’s called the city repeatedly for help and appeared before the council as recently as three years ago, all without a remedy.
“What do I got to do to get some help around here?” Parker said.
Councilwoman Mamie Perry said this council, which took office only a year ago, hadn’t heard about the problem until Saturday. That was the end of a week of rain.
“It’s not like we don’t care …,” Perry said. “We don’t want you to feel that way.”
The mayor suggested that Parker should talk with consulting engineer Charles Franklin of Providence Engineering after the meeting.
They huddled briefly, and Parker came away with assurances that he’d get what he’d been asking for, a smoke test of infiltration points in the sewer line.
Also Tuesday:
—Pat Gordon of the South Central Regional Planning and Development Commission staff, which recently developed a new zoning map for Patterson, suggested a fix for what he called a typo.
Gordon asked the council to change the side-yard setback requirement in a residential zone to 5 feet from 10 feet.
City Attorney Russel Cremaldi said the change will have to be made through an ordinance. Under the normal procedure, the ordinance could be available for passage as early as the April 2 council meeting.
—The council approved a can shake for the Patterson High School Band Boosters on Feb. 24 on Catherine Street.

DINNERS
Sold by Zion Chapel AME Church, 1511 Cherry St., Patterson, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16. Menu: fried catfish, white beans with rice, green salad, bread and dessert. Donation $12.

BLACK HISTORY
Celebration at New Zorah Baptist Church, 604 Julia St., Morgan City, 10 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 25. Guest speaker Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan. Theme: “African-Americans and the Arts — Setting a Platform for Social Justice.” Everyone welcome.

Danos, a leading energy services provider, announced the signing of a new planning and scheduling contract with Shell Exploration and Production Co., a subsidiary of Shell.
The agreement entrusts Danos to deploy a team of highly skilled personnel to support Shell’s upstream operations, underscoring Danos’ commitment to excellence in providing project management solutions, the Gray-based company said.
“With the contract, Danos team members will bring a wealth of technical expertise to oversee the scheduling of offshore projects and logistics for the energy giant’s construction, coatings and maintenance activities,” Danos said in a press release. “Operating at predominately onshore locations, the team will leverage its expertise to ensure skillful coordination and execution of activities.”
“Danos is excited to partner with Shell on a deeper level by providing planning and scheduling services,” said CEO Paul Danos. “The contract will allow us to live our purpose of developing great people to solve big challenges for our customers. At the same time, we’re proud to build on our 53-year relationship with Shell.”
In preparation for the successful execution of this contract and the growing service offering, Danos hired Donald Noland as its planning and scheduling operations manager. Noland brings 20 years of industry experience, with 15 years dedicated to planning and scheduling.
Founded in 1947, Danos is a family-owned and managed energy service provider.