Go vote on Tuesday!

St. Martinville – Early voting was still going on as of presstime. St. Martin Parish Registrar of Voters Patricia T. Guidry said that while tallies were not available, early voting seemed steady, indicating at least a fair turnout for Nov. 4’s mid-term elections.
St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court Becky Patin reminds voters that there is a three-minute maximum limit to stay in the voting booth. Because there are 14 proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot, Patin recommends you study those issues beforehand and write down your choices beforehand.
There are 25 different ballots within St. Martin Parish. Go to geauxvote.com to see what your ballot will look at. You can also download the mobile app “GeauxVote” on your smartphone and see instantaneous results as well as voting locations, sample ballots and other voter Information. Or visit www.stmartinparishclerkofcourt.com and click on “Elections.”
The proposed amendments, as summarized by the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council, are:
1. Medical trust fund and healthcare provider base rate...
YES gives constitutional protection to provisions in the Louisiana Medical Assistance Trust Fund and set a baseline compensation rate for nursing homes and certain other healthcare providers that pay a provider fee.
NO does not give special constitutional protections to the trust fund or establish a minimum base rate for healthcare providers.
2. Hospital assessment, trust fund and fee formula...
YES allows an assessment on hospitals to draw down more federal Medicaid dollars for the institutions and create a Hospital Stabilization Fund.
NO leaves current hospital funding methods as they are, with no new assessment and no special constitutional fund.
3. Sales of property with delinquent taxes...
YES allows local governments the option to use a private firm to assist in the collection of delinquent property taxes and the process of selling property whose owners are tax delinquent.
NO keeps the current law, which prohibits some forms of outsourced tax collection fees according to recent court rulings.
4. Fund transfers for an infrastructure bank...
YES allows the State Treasurer to invest public funds into a Louisiana Transportation Infrastructure Bank, in the event that such a bank is created.
NO denies permission to the State Treasurer to invest public funds in a Louisiana Transportation Infrastructure Bank.
5. Elimination of the mandatory retirement age of judges...
YES eliminates the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judges.
NO keeps the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judges.
6. Higher millage cap for police and fire protection in Orleans Parish...
YES raises the Orleans Parish special millage caps for police and fire protection from five to 10 mills, giving the New Orleans City Council authority to levy additional mills with voter approval.
NO keeps the Orleans Parish special millage caps for police and fire protection at five mills.
7. Property tax exemption for certain disabled veterans...
YES gives a bonus homestead exemption to veterans rated with 100 percent “unemployability” in parishes where a similar tax break has been approved by voters.
NO means that veterans who are rated 100 percent unemployable but less than 100 percent disabled would not receive the additional homestead exemption.
8. Artificial Reef Development Fund...
YES establishes the Artificial Reef Development Fund in the Constitution and prohibit using its money for purposes other than those described in the amendment.
NO leaves the fund as it currently exists – as a statutory entity – which allows it to be “swept” when the government needs money to balance the state’s budget.
9. Tax exemption reporting for permanently disabled residents...
YES eliminates the requirement that homeowners under the age of 65 who are permanently disabled must certify every year that their income meets the threshold for an assessment freeze.
NO means that permanently disabled homeowners under the age of 65 would have to continue to certify each year that their income meets the requirements for the freeze.
10. Tax sale of vacant, blighted or abandoned property...
YES requires each parish to shorten the redemption period for vacant blighted or abandoned property sold at a tax sale to 18 months after the sale has been recorded.
NO leaves the redemption period at three years from the date the sale has been recorded (except in Orleans Parish, which already has an 18-month redemption period).
11. Increases the number of state departments from 20 to 21...
YES increases the limit of allowed state government departments from 20 to 21, paving the way for the creation of a Department of Elderly Affairs.
NO leaves the current limit in place but would not necessarily prevent the future creation of a Department of Elderly Affairs.
12. Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission membership...
YES changes the membership of the Wildlife and
Fisheries Commission to require that two at-large members come from parishes north of a line created by Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Evangeline and Pointe Coupee.
NO leaves the membership as it currently stands, with three members from the coastal parishes and four selected from the state at large.
13. Orleans Lower Ninth Ward vacant property...
YES allows government-owned property in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans to be sold to specified classes of buyers at a nominal rate to be established by the Legislature.
Candidates on the ballot (not necessarily in every precinct, and in some cases not in every part of a precinct) are:

•U.S. Senate – Wayne Ables (D), Bill Cassidy (R), Thomas Clements (R), Mary Landrieu (D), Rob Maness (R), Brannon Lee McMorris (L),Vallian Senegal (D), and William Waymire Jr. (D);
•U. S. House, 3rd District – Bryan Barrilleaux (R), Charles Boustany Jr. (R), and Russell Richard (NP);
•District Judge 16th Judicial District Court, ES 2, Div. A – Tony Thibodeaux (R) and Dean Wattigny (R).
•District Judge 16th Judicial District Court, ES 1, Div. G – Lucretia Pecantte (D), Tai Porter-Green (D) and Curtis Sigur (D);
•District Judge 16th Judicial District Court, ES 1, Div. H – Alisia Johnson Butler (D), Carolyn Deal (O), and Lori A. Landry (D);
•School Board District 2 – Wanda Babin (O) and Raymond Lee (D);
•Breaux Bridge Mayor – Ricky Calais (R), Jill Hebert (O), and George Williams (D);
•Breaux Bridge Police Chief – Rollie Cantu (R) and P.J. Hebert (R);
•Breaux Bridge Alderman, District A – Gereline “Geri” Frederick (D) and Brenda Castille Hobbs (R);
•Breaux Bridge Alderman, District B – Howard “Doc” Alexander (D) and Michael J. “T-Mike” Breaux (D);
•Arnaudville Mayor Town of Arnaudville – Aymar “Pip” Bonin (D) and Kathy Richard (D);
•Arnaudville Police Chief – Eddy Lecompte (O) and Kenneth “Toby” Wetzel (D);
•Arnaudville Aldermen (top five) – Blake Couvillion (O), Annette Guidry (D), Albert Joseph Guilliot (D), Jamie Huval (R), Todd Meche (R), Judith Romero (D), Louis Stelly Jr. (D) and Suzanne Stelly (D);
•Henderson Councilman – William “Bill” LeGrand (O) and Gillray Patin (R);
•Parks Mayor – John Dugas (D) and Kevin Kately (D);
•Parks Aldermen (top three) – Yvonne Narcisse (D), Eva Craven Potier (D), Rose Nedie Potier (D), and Harold “Kellogg” Robertson (O);
•Broussard Police Chief – Brannon Decou (R) and Todd Mouton (R);
•Justice of the Peace, Ward 5 – Don LeGrand (O) and Angela Cliburn Taylor (R);
•Constable, Ward 2 – Harold “Cat” Pickney (D) and Leander “Cush” Williams (D);
•Constable, Ward 3 – David Dugas (O) and Blake Oubre (R);
•Constable, Ward 6 – Wendie Hotard (D) and Carol Martin (D).