By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — A recall petition directed at St. John the Baptist Parish District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut was filed this month with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office, and Tuesday SOS officials said the clock is on to acquire the needed votes to have the petition move forward.

SOS Press Secretary Meg Casper said once filed, the SOS is not involved in the handling of a petition, but that regulations dictate the St. John Parish Registrar of Voters would be the next stop in the process if requirements are met.

According to information from the SOS website — sos.la.gov — a copy of any recall petition must be filed with the SOS by the chairman of the recall committee prior to entering any signatures. Once the first signature is obtained, the recall petition becomes a public record with the chairman or vice chairman.

Listed on Dinvaut’s recall petition as chairman is Demond Lee of River Oaks Drive in LaPlace. Patricia M. Trosclair of Parlange Loop in LaPlace is listed as vice chairman.

According to the SOS website, signatures on a recall petition must be handwritten, and a petition has to be signed by 33 and 1/3 of the qualified voters where a recall election is petitioned.

According to the St. John the Baptist Parish Registrar of Voters office, there are 29,028 eligible voters in the parish, which means the petition would need to garner 9,666 signatures to move to the parish’s registrar of voter’s office for certification.

According to Louisiana law, the petition has to be submitted to the registrar of voters for certification no later than 180 days after being filed, which means Aug. 5 is the deadline to acquire the needed signatures.

If the total number of signatures is met by the deadline, the registrar of voters certifies the recall petition within 15 working days, and the petition is then forwarded to the governor, who would issue an election proclamation within 15 days after receiving it.

“If the recall is successful, a new election is scheduled in which qualifying is opened to anyone,” Casper said.

Dinvaut was not immediately available for comment as of press time Tuesday morning.

A runoff election between incumbent St. John the Baptist Parish District Attorney Tom Daley and Dinvaut was originally scheduled Dec. 6 after they were the top two vote getters in the Nov. 4 primary, where Daley secured 46.26 percent of the turnout (7,029 votes), compared to Dinvaut’s 34.31 percent (5,213 votes).

A third candidate, Geri Baloney, secured 19.44 percent (2,954 votes) of the November ballots cast.

Daley withdrew from the runoff Nov. 10 after receiving news from his neurosurgeon that his cancer had returned, which automatically placed Dinvaut in the district attorney seat.

Daley died Jan. 31.