Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
May 08, 2008
Rep. Don Cazayoux Elected to Congress
State Representative Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, won election on Saturday, May 3, 2008, to the vacancy in the sixth congressional district of Louisiana caused by the resignation of former United States Representative Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, on February 2. Cazayoux represented the 18th Louisiana House District since 2000. He defeated State Representative Michael Jackson in the Democratic runoff election in April of 2008 to become the Democratic Party's candidate for the May 3 general election. Running against candidates from the Republican Party and other parties and non-affiliated candidates, Cazayoux led the field with 49 per cent of the vote, with Republican candidate Woody Jenkins receiving 46 per cent and the three other candidates dividing the remainder. Cazayoux took the oath of office in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, May 6, thereby resigning from his seat in the Louisiana House. He is serving the remainder of the term that will end on January 3, 2009. Louisiana's delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives now includes Republican Representatives Steve Scalise, Jim McCrery, Rodney Alexander, and Charles Boustany; and Democratic Representatives William Jefferson, Charlie Melancon, and Don Cazayoux.
April 28, 2007
2007 Regular Session
by Alfred Speer, Clerk
The 2007 Regular Session of the Legislature will convene on Monday at noon. If you want to see the session dates of interest visit here and if you desire to follow the House's weekly schedule visit here.
This session will be the final regular session of this term of the Legislature and the final regular session for 47 members of the House of Representatives. Forty-five members are constitutionally prohibited from seeking reelection because of the term limit amendment to our constitution adopted by the people in 1995 (one member has announced her intention to not seek reelection and one member has announced his pursuit of a statewide elective office). Upward of nine additional members, eligible to run for reelection, are contemplating runs for other offices or retiring from the legislature. There will be 55 or more newly elected members in the House of Representatives when the Legislature organizes January 14, 2008.
This regular session is one of limited jurisdiction and length. The Legislature may meet no more than 45 legislative days in the 60 calendar days of this session and must adjourn sine die no later than 6:00 PM on June 28, 2007. There have been 897 House Bills and 322 Senate Bills prefiled for introduction in this regular session. Once the session convenes on Monday each legislator is limited to introducing no more than 5 additional bills, or 720 more possible introductions (no previous limited session has seen that many session bill filings).
Stay tuned for regular postings describing the progress of the session, the bills of general interest which are acted upon, and vignettes about your Legislature.
The 2007 Regular Session of the Legislature will convene on Monday at noon. If you want to see the session dates of interest visit here and if you desire to follow the House's weekly schedule visit here.
This session will be the final regular session of this term of the Legislature and the final regular session for 47 members of the House of Representatives. Forty-five members are constitutionally prohibited from seeking reelection because of the term limit amendment to our constitution adopted by the people in 1995 (one member has announced her intention to not seek reelection and one member has announced his pursuit of a statewide elective office). Upward of nine additional members, eligible to run for reelection, are contemplating runs for other offices or retiring from the legislature. There will be 55 or more newly elected members in the House of Representatives when the Legislature organizes January 14, 2008.
This regular session is one of limited jurisdiction and length. The Legislature may meet no more than 45 legislative days in the 60 calendar days of this session and must adjourn sine die no later than 6:00 PM on June 28, 2007. There have been 897 House Bills and 322 Senate Bills prefiled for introduction in this regular session. Once the session convenes on Monday each legislator is limited to introducing no more than 5 additional bills, or 720 more possible introductions (no previous limited session has seen that many session bill filings).
Stay tuned for regular postings describing the progress of the session, the bills of general interest which are acted upon, and vignettes about your Legislature.
April 09, 2007
WILL LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS BE REDRAWN IN 2007
by: Alfred W. Speer, Clerk
Do not look for newly drawn legislative election districts for the 2007 election of members to the Louisiana Legislature.
We all know Orleans parish has lost hundreds of thousands of citizens and that many parishes have gained tens of thousands since Katrina and Rita devastated our state (2006 parish population estimates). And we all know legislative elections are conducted on geographic districts drawn to insure each voter’s franchise is equal, the one-person, one-vote principle.
So why will the districts in Orleans, which are so underpopulated (approximately 20,000 citizens versus 42,800 citizens in 2001), and the districts in the Florida parishes and surrounding Baton Rouge, which have all gained significant population, not be redrawn during the 2007 legislative session to adjust the representation to reflect the diaspora of Katrina?
The simple answer is two-fold: first, Louisiana’s constitution in Article III, section 6 requires we use only the decennial census figures; and, second, the federal Voting Rights Act [42 USCA §1973]. This federal law requires Louisiana to submit any change in its voting procedures (read new legislative districts boundaries) for review by the U. S. Department of Justice to gain their “preclearance” before Louisiana can legally enforce the new districts, that is use them in an election. For Louisiana to conduct elections in 2007 from newly drawn districts we would have to ask the Justice Department to approve the new districts. One of their criteria for review is and will be the population counts upon which we base our one-person, one-vote decisions – how we divide the known population into districts of as nearly as practicable equal population. Using the decennial census raises no questions with the Department as to the accuracy of the population count. Using an estimate of population, that is not basing one-person, one-vote decisions on an actual census but on mere estimates of population, will raise immediate suspicions that Louisiana is not protecting the voting rights of all its citizens.
One of the principles of redistricting law is that, even admitting the decennial census data is inaccurate the year it is used (2001 for this decade) and is certainly stale and seriously inaccurate in year seven since the census, census data is the only acceptable population basis upon which to base district drawing, be they drawn in census year + one or + seven.
Do not look for new election districts to be drawn for the 2007 election of Louisiana legislators, the candidates will run in the districts drawn in 2001, no matter the number of citizens actually living in those districts.
Do not look for newly drawn legislative election districts for the 2007 election of members to the Louisiana Legislature.
We all know Orleans parish has lost hundreds of thousands of citizens and that many parishes have gained tens of thousands since Katrina and Rita devastated our state (2006 parish population estimates). And we all know legislative elections are conducted on geographic districts drawn to insure each voter’s franchise is equal, the one-person, one-vote principle.
So why will the districts in Orleans, which are so underpopulated (approximately 20,000 citizens versus 42,800 citizens in 2001), and the districts in the Florida parishes and surrounding Baton Rouge, which have all gained significant population, not be redrawn during the 2007 legislative session to adjust the representation to reflect the diaspora of Katrina?
The simple answer is two-fold: first, Louisiana’s constitution in Article III, section 6 requires we use only the decennial census figures; and, second, the federal Voting Rights Act [42 USCA §1973]. This federal law requires Louisiana to submit any change in its voting procedures (read new legislative districts boundaries) for review by the U. S. Department of Justice to gain their “preclearance” before Louisiana can legally enforce the new districts, that is use them in an election. For Louisiana to conduct elections in 2007 from newly drawn districts we would have to ask the Justice Department to approve the new districts. One of their criteria for review is and will be the population counts upon which we base our one-person, one-vote decisions – how we divide the known population into districts of as nearly as practicable equal population. Using the decennial census raises no questions with the Department as to the accuracy of the population count. Using an estimate of population, that is not basing one-person, one-vote decisions on an actual census but on mere estimates of population, will raise immediate suspicions that Louisiana is not protecting the voting rights of all its citizens.
One of the principles of redistricting law is that, even admitting the decennial census data is inaccurate the year it is used (2001 for this decade) and is certainly stale and seriously inaccurate in year seven since the census, census data is the only acceptable population basis upon which to base district drawing, be they drawn in census year + one or + seven.
Do not look for new election districts to be drawn for the 2007 election of Louisiana legislators, the candidates will run in the districts drawn in 2001, no matter the number of citizens actually living in those districts.
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