After the October elections left numerous local seats undecided, a run-off election this Saturday will determine the next St. Charles clerk of court, state representatives for Districts 56 and 57, state senator for District 2 and BESE member for District 2.
The race for clerk of court has been close between incumbent Charlie Oubre Jr. and Norco’s Lance Marino. In the October election, the two were separated by only 56 votes – with Oubre receiving 6,036 and Marino receiving 6,092.
Both candidates said they were not surprised by the need for a runoff.
“With three candidates, I expected a runoff,” Marino said.
Both campaigns continue their focuses from the last few months. Oubre hopes to keep the office intact and working how it currently does, while Marino hopes to modernize the office with new technology.
Marino said that he hopes he will get support from parishioners who voted for Fen Swann, the third candidate in the October election, because they ran on similar platforms.
“Sixty percent of the voters voted for my platform and Fen’s platform, which were so similar,” Marino said. “We’re more convinced that the people do want a modern clerk’s office.”
Oubre defended the office, saying that it does have some modern conveniences.
“(Marino) is saying that we don’t have email and a website, but we’ve got all that,” Oubre said. “He’s never been in the office so he doesn’t know.”
Also on the November ballot is the state representative 56th District seat. Locals Gregory Miller and G. “Ram” Ramachandran are vying for it. The 56th District encompasses most of St. Charles Parish.
In the October election, Miller received 49 percent of the votes while Ramachandran received about 40 percent.
Miller was only 110 votes short of winning the election last month. He said his campaign has not changed and he still hopes to have the opportunity to represent the people of District 56.
“Hurricane protection, accountability in government and fighting corruption are still the most important issues,” Miller said. “We’re going to continue to try to get the voters out…and I look forward to representing the people of this district.”
Ramachandran said that while he expected to win in October, he still believes he is the best person for the job.
His platform has remained the same, but he said he is even more concerned about the future of public education versus charter or private schools.
“Education is the key to success. We are not in a local competition, a state competition or a national competition – we are in a global competition to find our people the skills, training and education to have a good future,” Ramachandran said. “Our foundation is education and we are not investing enough in that direction.”
He said he also hopes to be the mouthpiece for local teachers and school administrators who are worried about their retirement.
Saturday’s election will also decide the parish representative on the BESE Board between Louella Givens, who had 29 percent of the district vote, and Kira Jones, who had 31 percent of the vote. A small portion of the parish will help decide the next state senator for the 2nd Senatorial District between Elton Aubert and Troy Brown, and the state representative for the 57th District between Randal Gaines and Russ Wise.
The polls will be open on Saturday from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. For more election information, visit http://voterportal.sos.la.gov.
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