The Madison Parish School Board saw two incumbents come out on top and two fail to do so during Tuesday’s election in a race that included five of the eight seats.
MPSB incumbents Marguerite “Rita” Hargrave (District 8) and Lisa Johnson (District 7) both came out on top in races for their seats, while Darrell Sims (District 5) and Sharon Jackson (District 4) fell short.
Hargrave (R) received 75 percent (1,711) of the votes to defeat Shante’ Everett (no party), who received 25 percent (90) of the vote.
In District 7, Lisa Johnson (D) received 56 percent (152) of the votes, while challenger Glenda Minor-Douglas (D) received 44 percent (118 votes).
In the race for District 5, incumbent Darrell Sims (D) received 31 percent (105) of the votes, while challenger Paula Hamilton (no party) received 51 percent (172). Challenger Ronnie Groves (D) received 18 percent (60) of District-5 votes.
In District 4, challenger Kathy Gultery (no party) received 51 percent (142) votes, while incumbent Sharon Jackson (D) received 49 percent (135) in a close race.
Rounding out the MPSB election, in another close race, was former member Eddie Fountain receiving 54 percent (188) of the vote and Artis Brown (D) receiving 46 percent (163) in the bid for the seat currently occupied by Samuel Dixon.
In the aldermen race for the Village of Richmond, with three candidates to be elected, “Curt” Collins (R) received 25 percent (115) of the vote; incumbent Walter Cobb (R) received 22 percent (99); incumbent Margaret Leoty received 22 percent (103); Lamar Walters (R) received 17 percent (80); and, Bart Wood (R) received 13 percent (61).
In the race for U.S. Senator incumbent John Kennedy (R) won Madison Parish in a landslide on his way to a new term, with 52 percent (1,405) of the vote.
Incumbent Julia Letlow also won re-election by a large margin in the race for U.S. Representative for the 5th Congressional District, winning Madison Parish with 54 percent (1,403) of the vote.
Of the eight proposed constitutional amendments on Tuesday’s ballot, Madison Parish approved three, voting in the affirmative for Amendments 2, 4 and 8.
A full breakdown of the proposed amendments may be found below.
1. to increase to 65 percent the cap on the amount of monies in certain state funds that may be invested in stocks; 2. to expand certain property tax exemptions for property on which the homestead exemption is claimed for certain veterans with disabilities; 3. to allow classified civil service employees to support the election to public office of members of their own families; 4. to allow local governments to waive water charges that are the result of damage to the water system not caused by the customer; 5. to allow the levying of a lower millage rate by a local taxing authority while maintaining the authority's ability to adjust to the current authorized millage rate; 6. to limit the amount of an increase in the assessed value of residential property subject to the homestead exemption in Orleans Parish following reappraisal at ten percent of the property's assessed value in the previous year; 7. to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude except as it applies to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice; 8. to remove the requirement that homeowners who are permanently totally disabled must annually re-certify their income to keep their special assessment level on their residences for property tax purposes.
* all elections results are unofficial numbers provided by the Louisiana office of the Secretary of State.
