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Councilman and attorney find issues with recall petition signatures

Posted at 5:36 PM, Sep 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-04 20:04:10-04

Organizers of a recall petition against a St. Martinville city councilman will not be facing penalties after the councilman accused of them of not following public records laws.

With the recall still underway, councilman Dennis Williams requested the names of people who have signed the petition against him.

When he didn’t get the list within a week, he filed a lawsuit. However, a judge ruled that lawsuit was premature. Williams and his attorney now have the list.

According to Williams’ attorney, they’ve found issues with some of the signatures.

“The first hundred signatures, we found almost 20 that didn’t live in the district,” Allan Durand said. “That’s something that has to be checked closely.”

Durand, says some people who signed the petition don’t live in the district and were misinformed, which is why they plan to request signatures each week until the petition deadline.

“It’s just something we just got to check it to make sure it’s right,” Durand said.

Recall petition organizers against Williams are still gathering signatures.

Organizers admit there were people who did not live in the district who signed. However, they say they are closely monitoring the list to make sure the signatures are accurate.

“it’s not about us. It’s about the people in District 3 who aren’t being well represented,” organizer Morice Smith said.

“I must say my district is standing strong in this recall,” Petition chair Daija Alexander added.