Qualifying begins this week at Courthouse in Abbeville

Qualifying for the upcoming local spring elections will begin later this week at the Vermilion Parish Courthouse in Abbeville.
Those qualifying for races in Abbeville, Erath and Kaplan will do so at Clerk of Court Diane Meaux Broussard’s office, located in the courthouse. The Clerk’s office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“Qualifying used to be open until 5 p.m.,” Vermilion Parish Registrar of Voters Mike Bertrand said. “They changed that a couple of years ago. Now qualifying closes at the same time as the office hours.”
Those signing up will need to have proof of voter registration. That can be obtained from Bertrand’s office, located across from the Clerk’s office.
“They will get all the necessary paper work from the Clerk’s office,” Bertrand said. “We will also be glad to answer any questions at my office.”
Qualifying will be taking place for mayor, council members and police chief in both Abbeville and Kaplan. There will be a special election for Erath mayor, as well as one of town’s alderman seats.
The elections are scheduled for Saturday, April 5. Any runoffs will be decided on Saturday, May 3.
There will be proposition votes appearing on the April 5 ballot. Among the items will be a Parish-wide Library Tax renewal and a Parish-wide road maintenance renewal. Those would be to renew the items for another 10 years. A similar 10-year scenario will appear for property tax renewal requests for Road Districts 1, 4A, 6 and Road District Sub 1 of 2.
As is the case for all elections, there will be an early voting option. That is set for March 22-29, with the exception Sunday, March 23, when the courthouse is closed. Early votes can be cast from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bertrand’s office.
Those who are not registered yet to vote will have a deadline to do so for this election. Interested voters will have to sign up by March 5 to be eligible for the April 5 elections.