Two residents of St. Martinville have filed a petition to begin a recall of a council member.
Ernest Bing and Kenrell Francois filed the petition naming Janise Anthony today with the Louisiana Secretary of State, as is required by state law. SOS officials tell KATC the petition is in proper form.
As required by law, the organizers included their reason for wanting to recall Anthony, which was "unfit for office, has not represented the needs of the community."
Today's filing starts the clock on the recall; in Louisiana to recall an elected official a citizen must file a petition with the Secretary of State, and they then have a certain number of days to collect a certain number of signatures (from registered voters) calling for a recall election.
If they get those signatures before the deadline, and the signatures are certified as valid, the petition is sent to the Governor's Office and a recall election is called. When that happens, voters go to the polls to cast their ballot on the issue of a recall. If the voters recall the elected official, their seat is immediately empty and another election is called so voters can select a replacement. The official who was recalled cannot run in that election, under state law.
The deadlines and number of signatures required depends on the number of people the elected official represents. According to parish records, there are fewer than 1,000 registered voters in the district. That means organizers will have to get 40 percent of the registered voters to sign the petition. They also have a deadline; according to state law they must obtain those signatures within 90 days of the day the petition was filed.
We're reaching out to Anthony for comment and we'll update this story as soon as we reach her.
