Ordinarily Louisiana elects all its state officers, both executive and legislative, in the years before presidential elections. But Louisiana will hold a special election this year, for Treasurer, on October 7. According to this story, so far three Republicans, one Democrat, and one Libertarian have filed. Filing hasn’t closed yet.
It will be interesting what any late filers are served. The three early filers were served doughnuts, while those at midday go jambalaya.
The treasurer vacancy was due to John Kennedy’s election as US Senator in 2016. Kennedy had been treasurer since 1999, and ran for senator two previous times before being elected in a 3rd try in 2016, one advantage of a odd-year elections.
Kennedy only had an opponent for treasurer in two of his five elections. In 2003, 2007, and 2011 with no opponent, the treasurer’s race was left off the Open Primary ballot. In 1999, Kennedy defeated a fellow Democrat in the Open Primary; and in 2015, he defeated a fellow Republican, having switched parties in 2007.
PS Saturday October 7, 2017 is on the regular date for the Open Primary in odd years. Because statewide officials and legislators run for four-year terms in concurrent elections, there are very few offices contested in any of the three intervening years of four year cycle (there are the few federal races in even years).
October 7, 2017, is the date of the election for Treasurer. If anyone gets 50% on that day, he or she will be elected.
To accept Jim Riley’s vocabulary on this matter would mean that if someone got 50% on October 7, Louisiana would never have held a special election for Treasurer, and someone would take office without having gone through an election. Obviously October 7 is the election.
The special primary election date will be October 14, 2017. (the news article may have had the wrong date and been corrected). According to state statute the primary election in odd-numbered years is the 3rd from last Saturday in October. According to state statute the general election in odd-numbered years is the 5th Saturday after the 3rd from last Saturday in October.
In 2017, those dates are October 14 for the primary election and November 18 for the general election.
Jim Riley correctly uses the word ‘primary’ as an adjective. I’m sure that Richard Winger knew at some time that the word ‘primary’ is an adjective, and it means first.
If only one candidate had filed, then the primary election for the office would not have been held, and the sole county would have been deemed elected. This happened in three of the last five times the Treasurer was elected (in 2003, 2007, and 2011, but not 1999 and 2015).
If one candidate receives a majority of the vote (more than half) in the primary election, he is elected. (see Louisiana RS 18:511.A). It is right there in black and white. Otherwise, the Top 2, barring ties, advance to the general election ballot.
Incidentally, Louisiana statute provides for another election (runoff?) to be held if there is a tie in a general election.
Regarding the original blog post, two additional candidates filed, one Republican and one “independent”. It is not clear whether the independent candidate is an ‘I’ Independent Party independent or an ‘N’ No Party independent. I don’t think it is possible for a candidate to be an ‘O’ Other Party independent now that the Independent Party is recognized.
The Secretary of State web site instructs election officials to make sure whether a candidate is an ‘I’ or ‘N’ independent when they file.
It unknown what the two late filing candidates were served when they filed on Friday, the third day of filing. The doughnuts were probably crumbs, and I would not eat three-day old jambalaya. Perhaps given the French influence on Louisiana, they let them eat cake.