Editor’s note: This article has been updated since its original publication. The city-parish Registrar of Voters’ name is spelled Steve Raborn, not Rayborn. Daily Report regrets the error.
Metro Councilman and mayoral candidate John Delgado will qualify by nominating petition to run for the Nov. 8 election.
Delgado can begin collecting signatures on Tuesday and must turn them into the East Baton Rouge Parish Registrar of Voters by June 22. Delgado needs 400 signatures to qualify, but says he wants to get about 1,000.
He says he likes qualifying by nominating petition because it allows supporters who may not be able to back him financially to get involved in his campaign. It also allows him to get out in the community.
By qualifying by nominating petition, Delgado will not have to pay the qualifying fee other candidates have to pay. The fee is $450 for Republican and Democratic candidates; $225 for those running from outside the two major parties.
Delgado qualified by nominating petition for his Metro Council run in 2012. Qualifying for the fall race runs from July 20-22.
Steve Raborn, East Baton Rouge Parish registrar of voters, says his office will need about a week to verify each signature on the petition to make sure each person lives in the city-parish and that no one signed more than once.
Raborn says qualifying by nominating petition is not uncommon, and it happens more than the public realizes. However, no one has informed his office of their intention to qualify by nominating petition for the fall election, Raborn adds.
Besides Delgado, the only other candidate who has officially announced a run to replace Mayor Kip Holden—who is term-limited from seeking another term—is Sharon Weston Broome, a former state legislator. Delgado is a Republican and Weston Broome a Democrat. Others, including attorney Marty Maley, real estate broker Darryl Gissel and activist Sarah Holliday-James, have said they are considering a run.
—Ryan Broussard
