Yesterday election officials and recall organizers reached an agreement on the number of active voters in the parish, lowering the number of signatures needed to force a recall of Mayor Cantrell by about 5,000 names.
The agreement was struck in Orleans Parish court.
The details of the settlement were not immediately available, but the Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s office said no voters would be declared inactive or removed from the rolls in the process.
Some observers, including Mayor Cantrell, have expressed concerns that the recall campaign’s legal challenge was a backdoor strategy to purge New Orleans voters from the rolls. But it was stated that the deal will not change anyone’s voter status. The deal and lower active voter count will only apply to the Cantrell recall petition, not future petitions or elections.
In order to trigger a recall election, petitioners have been tasked with acquiring signatures from 20% of active voters in the parish, which is now 44,975 signatures.
Recall organizers claimed they delivered boxes with almost 50,000 signatures to the Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters last week. The signatures will now need to be verified by Orleans Registrar Sandra Wilson’s office.
