La. Admin. Code tit. 7 § XLI-101

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section XLI-101 - Electing One Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor

A. The rules and regulations for electing one soil and water conservation district supervisor in each of the 40 soil and water conservation districts annually, as adopted by the soil and water conservation committee, are as follows.

1. General Rules

a. Act Number 231 of 1958 provides for an annual state election on the second Saturday in June.

b. Nominating petition forms shall be distributed by the district supervisors through county agents, SCS district conservationists, and others. All should encourage our best landowners or farm operators to qualify as candidates for district supervisors.

c. In order to qualify as a candidate to run for district supervisor, the candidate must be a qualified landowner or farm operator, must be a qualified voter within the state, and must present to the state committee a petition containing the names of at least 25 qualified voters. This petition shall be signed by the registrar of voters attesting that the names on the petition are qualified voters in the named Soil and Water Conservation District.

2. Nominating Rules

a. There shall be a 30-day nominating period which shall begin 60 days before the annual election on the second Saturday in June.

b. Nominating petitions must be completed on the petition papers supplied by the Louisiana Soil and Water Conservation Committee and/or any Soil and Water Conservation District Office. Nominating petitions will be revised yearly and will be numerically numbered; all nominating petitions submitted for district elections must have a current revised date and carry the name assigned to that district by the state committee.

c. Petitions must be mailed by the state committee to each chairman in the 40 Soil and Water Conservation Districts on or before ___________________.

d. Petitions completed containing the names of candidates, together with the signatures of at least 25 legally qualified voters, must be in the state committee office on or before ________________________.

e. Instructions, together with the necessary ballots, shall be mailed to the chairman of each soil and water conservation district in due time before the election.

f. The chairman of the board and the four district supervisors in each district shall have charge of the election. It shall be their duty to select the polling places and notify the state committee of such selection in time to give due notice before the election. It shall also be their duty to appoint two election commissioners for each polling place, carry the ballots out to the polling places, and secure an accurate result of the election of each polling place or appoint a trustworthy person to carry out these duties. The chairman of each district shall immediately mail the results of the election to the state committee.

g. The state committee shall give due notice through the press before the election, of the election in districts where elections are necessary as soon as nominating petitions have been approved by the committee. The notice shall contain the polling places and hour that the polls will be opened and closed. In districts where there is no opposition, there will be no election.

h. The election commissioners at each poll where elections are being held shall open the poll at 8 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

i. Each soil and water conservation district board shall provide the state committee with a list of names of the persons who served as commissioners at the annual election, second Saturday in June.

j. The state committee shall pay each commissioner who served at the polls for the state annual election $25 per day and that districts may add up to an additional $25 to this pay for commissioners from their state appropriated funds. The districts shall have three polling places in each parish, but not to exceed a maximum of eight in each district where more than two parishes are involved.

k. No provisions will be made by the district for the qualified voters to vote by absentee ballot during this election.

l. The state committee shall, on the regular meeting date in June, promulgate the election returns and announce the names of the elected district supervisors. Nominees who had no opposition may be declared elected upon approval of their nominating petitions.

m. If the total number of candidates duly presented in nominating petitions does not exceed the name of supervisor places to be filled by election, then and in that event, the state committee is authorized and empowered to dispense with the election procedure and to declare each of said candidates duly qualified as a supervisor without the requirement of an election the same as if his name had been presented to the qualified voters in an election. Candidates so qualified shall be considered for all purposes "Elected Supervisors."

n. The state committee shall supervise the conduct and prescribe regulations of elections for district supervisors.

o. A tally sheet is to be maintained at each polling place in a bound ledger book and pages are not to be removed. Persons appearing at the designated polling places for the purpose of voting in this election must present one of the following items of identification: voter registration card; driver's license; or Social Security card. If none of the items of identification are available, the person must sign a sworn statement certifying that he is a registered voter. After identification has been produced, or the sworn statement has been signed, the voter will then enter his name on the tally sheet and will be given a ballot by the election commissioner in order to cast his vote.

p. Illiterate or blind voters will be assisted only by the election commissioner and only if the voter requests assistance in marking a ballot.

q. All candidates participating may appoint two poll watchers per polling place if they so desire. However, poll watchers will not receive pay from the state committee.

r. The official ballot is to be marked with an X by a black, ballpoint pen and folded out of the presence of the election commissioner and poll watchers, then dropped in the ballot box. If the ballot is not marked with an X, it will be considered spoiled.

s. All spoiled or excess ballots are to be accounted for by the commissioners. The ballot box, without being removed from the public view, shall be opened by the commissioners and they shall proceed with counting the ballots found therein without unfolding them except so far as to ascertain that each ballot is single, and by comparing the ballots found in the box with the number shown by the poll lists to have been deposited. If the ballots found in any box are more than the number of ballots shown to have been deposited, the ballots shall all be replaced without being unfolded in the box from which they were taken. One of the commissioners shall, without seeing the ballots and with his back to the box, thoroughly mingle them together, and another commissioner shall, without seeing the ballots and with his back to the box, publicly draw as many ballots as shall be equal to the excess. Without unfolding them, the commissioner shall at once mark them "uncounted in excess of poll list."

t. Ballot boxes are to be delivered only to election commissioners.

u. A sample of the current rules and regulations, official ballot and voters sworn statement for electing district supervisors will be posted in some conspicuous location at each polling place during the election so that voters will have the opportunity to review same.

La. Admin. Code tit. 7, § XLI-101

Promulgated by the Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Highways, LR 1:253 (May 1975), amended LR 10:469 (June 1984), repromulgated by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, LR 31:898 (April 2005).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 3:1204 et seq.