Haston Lewis and Lori Colas are set for a December 7 runoff for an open seat on the Justice of the Peace position in District 1 of St.John’s the Baptist Parish.

Lewis, who had been an interim Justice of the Peace in District 1, had polled  810 votes to Lori’s 446 votes at the November 6 elections. Other candidates include Jade Champagne with 221 votes while Chad Roussell polled 300 votes are both going to miss the Dec. 7 runoff.

The L’Observateur had erroneously reported that Lewis was re-elected for polling majority of the votes which was 46 percent of the total votes on November 5. According to the Louisiana state electoral law when one of the candidates fail to get 50 percent of the votes then a rerun election is conducted to break the impasse.

Jeff Landry, Governor of Louisiana had called for a special election to be conducted after the resignation of Haston Lewis Jr, who vacated the seat as Justice of the peace in District 1 on May 8. 

Haston boasts an impressive record of public service as he had previously served as a Justice of the Peace for six years from 2014 until his term expired in Dec.31 2020. He has also served on St. John Parish Recreational Board for 11 years.

He believes being a public servant motivated him to do more for the citizens of District 1 as he serves as a Justice of the Peace, he said in an interview last year.