NEW ORLEANS — There’s exactly one week until the Registrar of Voters’ deadline to complete the certification of the signatures on the recall petition. Mayor Cantrell’s motion to get the settlement decision between the Secretary of State and the Nolatoya group thrown out, may delay any steps after the signature certification as the number of active registered voters could change once again.
“Now the question is what is the threshold is it 225 thousand registered voters or is it 250 thousand voter,” Ed Chervenak, Political Scientist at UNO said.
If the recall petition does have enough signatures, the Governor would sign a proclamation and set a date for a vote. He could schedule that vote for October 14 – the next statewide election – or he could schedule a special election for any date, but now the Governor may have to wait, due to the Mayor’s motion.
A court date has not yet been set for the Mayor’s filing, but if there is a hearing, according to Chervenak, there could be a judicial decision to “basically hold off on the Governor issuing that proclamation,” until there’s an answer from court.
Chervenak says the Mayor’s motion filed earlier this week, likely won’t be the last one we see as a result of the recall. He says we’re already in unchartered territory, and more legal action could put us further into that unchartered territory.
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