GWEN FONTENOT ET AL v. TODD MCKELLAR (2023)

I respectfully dissent.

In Becker v. Dean, 03-2493, pp. 6-7 (La. 9/18/03), 854 So. 2d 864, 869, the supreme court stated:

There is nothing more fundamental to our society than the ability of our electorate to choose its leaders. The purpose of the election process is to provide the electorate with a wide choice of candidates. Williams v. Ragland, 567 So.2d 63 (La.1990). See also Roe v. Picou, 361 So.2d 874 (La.1978); Jumonville v. Jewell, 317 So.2d 616 (La.1975); Langridge v. Dauenhauer, 120 La. 450, 45 So. 387 (1908). Because encouraging qualification is an integral component of the process, laws regulating the process must be interpreted with this purpose in mind. Williams, 567 So.2d at 66. Thus, the interests of the state and its citizens are best served when election laws are interpreted so as to give the electorate the widest possible choice of candidates. See Rich v. Martin, 259 So.2d 113 (La.App. 1 Cir.1971).

In this case, the evidence shows that (1) the defendant lived continuously in Rapides Parish from October 31, 2021 to the present; (2) the defendant's residence in Lake Charles was uninhabitable from August 2020, when Hurricane Laura made landfall, until approximately April 2023; and (3) the defendant lived with his wife continuously in the boundaries of House District 38 from the March 25, 2022, until the present. The evidence was undisputed that the defendant resided in Rapides Parish without interruption from October 31, 2021, until the date of his qualification.

In order to establish a domicile, there must first be a habitable residence. The only habitable residence the defendant could have made his domicile for the year preceding his qualification was in Rapides Parish. Considering the legal requirement that we view the evidence in the light most favorable to candidacy, I find the trial court was manifestly erroneous in its judgment. I find the defendant has met the qualifications to be a candidate for House District 38 at the October 14, 2023 primary election.

Stiles, J., dissents and assigns reasons.