General Circular No. 001345

To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: Commissioner Runoff Election Information

Issue Date: March 16, 1999

The initial election of the classified employee member of the State Civil Service Commission concluded on March 1, 1999. Since no candidate received thirty-five percent of the votes, the two candidates who received the most votes will be in a runoff election. The two candidates in the runoff are Mr. Burl Cain, Warden of Louisiana State Penitentiary, and Mr. Michael L. Harris, Attorney with the Department of Health and Hospitals. (See initial election results below.)

Election law provides that the runoff election is conducted in the same manner as the initial election except that the time constraints for each process (excluding ballot counting) are more limited. Please refer to General Circular No. 1342 for details on voting procedures, ballot distribution, and ballot problems. Only those classified employees who were eligible to vote in the primary, i.e. those who had attained permanent status by December 5, 1998, are eligible to vote in the runoff.

Ballots will be distributed to each agency on Tuesday, March 23, 1999, either by agency pick up from the Department of Civil Service headquarters office in Baton Rouge or by United Parcel Service delivery. Appointing Authorities are required by the election law to initiate distribution of the voting material to eligible voters immediately upon receipt.

Since there is considerable movement of employees in and out of state service and transfer between agencies, some agencies may not receive a ballot for one or more of their eligible voters and some may receive ballots for voters who have left the agency. In the interest of time, we ask that you mark through the name of the voter who has left your agency and give that unopened voter material to the eligible voter who did not receive a ballot. Of course, if you have eligible voters without ballots and no ballots of former employees to give them, please contact us with the name and social security number of the person who must be sent a ballot and the address to which it is to be sent.

Please note that the information on the envelope going to each eligible voter is not an address and cannot be distributed to them by dropping it in the U. S. Mail. We would appreciate your returning to us the excess ballot materials for employees who have left your agency by batching and mailing it after you have made your agency distribution.

Finally, please remind your employees that both signature and social security number are required for verification and that the signature slip should NOT be place inside the For Ballot Only envelope. Louisiana Revised Statute 42:1355 provides that voters shall not be interfered with or influenced in the marking of their ballots, and postage-paid envelopes are provided to each voter to assist them in casting a secret ballot. Employees should return their ballots and signature slips as early as possible as ballots will not be counted if they are received in the Baton Rouge headquarters office of the Department of Civil Service after 4:30 p.m., Monday, April 5, 1999.

For your information, the number of votes received by each candidate in the initial election is reported below.

1. Jan K. Byland 875 7. Karen J. Ryder 869

2. Burl Cain 5378 8. Annette H. Sharp 888

3. J. Carlos Eaglin, II 675 9. Royce N. Thompson 1534

4. Michael L. Harris 2668 10. Michael D. Vince 1012

5. Farhad Niami 741 11. O. Larry Wilson 646

6. Marshall J. Ryals 1402 12. Charles N. Wopara 265

To report or inquire about any of the above information, please call (225) 342-0640, (225) 342-9024, or (225) 342-8274. Please give this circular the widest and most expeditious distribution possible.

Sincerely,

Allen H. Reynolds

Director