[StBernard] St. Bernard sheriff candidate files protest over improper votes

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard sheriff candidate files protest over improper votes

St. Bernard sheriff candidate files protest against voters

Voting/FILE (FOX 8 News)
Reported by: Meg Gatto, Reporter Email: mgatto at fox8live.com
			
Print Story Published: 5:26 pm Share Updated: 7:31 pm 
Wayne Landry is running for sheriff in St. Bernard Parish and says he was
shocked to find out hundreds, if not thousands of people are claiming they
have St. Bernard addresses, in order to vote in the parish. The revelation
was made on Monday as part of a Lee Zurik investigation.

"Even if I were to win this election I would still demand a re-election,
there should be a new election," Landry said. His attorneys advised him to
file protests over the voter's addresses, which he has done Tuesday with the
Registrar of Voters. "The outcome of this election is tainted. Look, you had
people in the primary election, some of them five votes apart, some of them
43 votes apart, we possibly could have different candidates in the runoff,"
Landry explained.

His opponent is Jimmy Pohlmann, currently, the second in command at the
sheriff's office. Fox 8's investigation revealed as many as two dozen
employees at the sheriff's office are living outside of the parish, but
still voting. "I think nobody is knowingly trying to break the law. I think
there's a lot of confusion about the law, there's not much clarity about
that, until somebody brings some clarification, I'm actually wondering if
they broke the law or not," Pohlmann said.

Parish President Craig Taffaro says he's also concerned about the law
because many people think they can still vote in the parish where they lived
pre-Katrina, although they have homestead exemptions for homes in other
areas. Taffaro is in a run-off with David Peralta for his job, but says he
has no plans to lodge a complaint with the registrar of voters, instead, his
office will conduct their own investigation. "We certainly are analyzing the
information that we had to try to scrub our list of who early voted and
which of those votes may have been potentially violations of the law and
then what we will do is turn that over, whatever information we have we'll
turn over to the proper authorities," Taffaro said.

David Peralta didn't return our request for comment on this story.

But all three candidates we spoke to say they're disappointed that this
scandal will overshadow the real issues in the race. 

Wayne Landry says if he loses his bid for sheriff, he'll file another
protest with the registrar of voters. He says the issue will most likely
head to court, where a judge will decide if another election needs to be
held.