Lawyers for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell have filed a pair of lawsuits challenging the settlement that reduces the number of signatures needed to recall Cantrell.
"Twin lawsuits challenge Republican Secretary of State R. Kyle Ardoin’s unconstitutional intervention in Orleans Parish Recall Election," campaign advisor Bill Rouselle said in a news release. "Lawsuits seek to vacate back-room deal to reduce the number of qualified electors."
It comes after Ardoin and recall organizers agreed that there were 25,000 names of people on the active voter list that had moved out of the city or died.
Rouselle says Ardoin acted outside his constitutional and statutory authority in negotiating the settlement with recall campaign leaders.
Attorneys Marion Floyd and Ron Wilson filed the suits in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
“The Secretary of State acted without constitutional or legislative authority in reducing the number of qualified voters required to trigger a recall election,” said Marion Floyd. “Simply put, Ardoin did not have the power to make that change and make it retroactive to the date of submission of the recall petition. What he did, essentially, was re-write the law which guides recall elections in Louisiana. But that power rests with the legislature. What Ardoin did was unlawful.”
The suits are on behalf of Cantrell and an Orleans Parish registered voter.
The attorneys filed a petition to "vacate, nullify, set aside and/or otherwise invalidate the final judgment entered into by the Secretary of State and recall campaign leaders."
Cantrell attorneys also want a Writ of Mandamus issued to the Secretary of State directing him to show by what authority he negotiated the settlement. The mayor's lawyers claim the Ardoin "arbitrarily" reclassified 25,000 Orleans Parish voters as inactive for purposes of the recall count.
In order to force an election asking voters if they want to remove the mayor, recall organizers need signatures of 20% of active voters. Reducing the number of active voters by 25,000 also reduces the number of needed signatures by 5,000.
“The recall organizers have refused to make the petition signatures public, which is required by law. We find out the judge ruling on the recall signed the recall petition and did not notify the parties involved. And clearly the Secretary of State acted illegally in reducing the number of qualified electors to be counted in the recall,” said Rouselle. “We feel compelled to step up to the plate now because these actions by the Secretary of State could be a precursor of what will transpire in the upcoming state and local elections. They used this opportunity to demoralize our people, divide our city, and disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters in New Orleans ahead of the Governor's race. But we won’t let them take our rights away.”
Recall organizers claim there are more than 32,000 voters on the active voter list, who have actually died or moved out of New Orleans. They say government databases support their claim.
