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On a typical election night, everyone at the Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court’s Office is finished sending the election results to the Secretary of State’s Office by 9:30 p.m. But that was not the case this past Saturday.
Vermilion Parish was the last parish in the state to finish submitting the election results. It was just after midnight on Sunday by the time everyone finished.

So, what happened?

Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court Diane Meaux Broussard said everything was going well with submitting the results to the Secretary of State’s Office.
The results of the Pecan Island precinct, the furthest voting district from Abbeville, were in the clerk of court’s office by 9:30 p.m.
Vermilion Parish had 142 cartridges holding the results of the election and were being uploaded to the Secretary of State’s website throughout the evening. Then, 19 of those cartridges failed to upload. After troubleshooting, it was determined by a Secretary of State staff member that the results from these 19 cartridges would have to be entered manually by the Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court’s office.
The clerk’s office used the paper results from the voting machines to manually input the results from the 19 voting machines.
The ballots were long and included not only Vermilion Parish candidates, but state candidates and four constitutional amendments, as well. The process took two hours, and when it was completed, Vermilion Parish was the final parish to finish.
On a night when Broussard should have celebrated her clerk of court victory, she had to deal with computer issues.
“These voting machines are 35 years old,” said Broussard. “The cartridges would not read.
“I was disappointed. This was the first time this had happened to me in my 20 years as the clerk of court. We could have been out of there at 10, but it was not until midnight. Technology did not work that night.”
Two members of the secretary of state’s office helped input the results by hand.
Broussard and her staff, along with The Secretary of State’s Commissioner of Elections, spent Sunday reviewing the cartridges that failed to upload.
By the time the runoff election will take place on Nov. 18, these cartridges will be replaced by the Secretary of State, Broussard said.
Broussard thanked her staff for professionally handling the computer clinch.

Close to 50 people attended the first Vermilion Charter Town Hall meeting held Thursday at the Woodman of the World Hall in Maurice.
In attendance were parents who wanted to send their children to Vermilion Charter Academy, a new charter school about to be built in the northern part of the parish.
The school will be known as Vermilion Charter Academy, and the bulldog will be its mascot.
The K-through 8th grade school is scheduled to open in August of next year. The school can house 900 students. The goal is to have at least 100 students in each grade.
The parents were able to learn when the enrollment begins and how it works, along with the goals of the charter schools.
The school will cost around $20 million to build and will be paid for by Charter Schools USA. Charter Schools USA has seven charter schools in Louisiana, including two in Lafayette Parish.
Lonnie Lege, the superintendent of Charter Schools USA of Louisiana, explained to the parents that Charter Schools USA will build a first-class facility at no extra cost to the taxpayers.
“It will be a state-of-the-art facility,” said Lege. “We are going to invest $20 million in the community. We will also pay for the facility with current operating dollars.”
On Friday, Charter Schools USA began interviewing prospects for the new principal job. There were 27 who applied.
Enrollment for the charter school will begin on Oct. 30 and end on Dec. 2. Parents have to visit the website Vermilioncharter.org to enroll their child or children. On the website, parents will see the button “Enroll Now.” They have to click on the button to begin the process.
Once enrollment is closed, parents will learn in about a week if their child has been accepted into the charter school.
Anyone in South Louisiana can attend the charter school; however, Vermilion Parish children will have priority over out-of-parish students.
Emily Wharton, the enrollment manager of Charter Schools USA, said once a student has been selected, the parent has seven days to accept the invite.
She predicted by Dec. 11, parents and students should begin getting word on if their student was accepted.
Wharton explained that the goal is to have 100 students in each grade. If 150 second-grade students enroll, the school will pick only 100 students using the lottery system. The other 50 students will be on a waiting list.
However, if there are only 50 students enrolled in the third grade and 150 in the second grade, Charter School USA can add two more second-grade classrooms since there could be only two third-grade classrooms.
Greg Theriot, former North Vermilion High School Principal, is the Regional Superintendent of Charter Schools USA of Louisiana. He oversees the operation of the two charter schools in Lafayette Parish and will also oversee Vermilion Charter Academy.
Theriot assured the parents that the new school would be the safest in Vermilion Parish.
There will be video cameras in each hall. Every door will have an alarm, and everyone entering the school must go through a security check.
“We know how to keep kids safe,” Theriot said.
The charter school will provide school bus transportation.
Also, students must wear blue or red shirts with brown pants.
Another public school charter meeting will be held on Oct. 24 in Abbeville at the St. Theresa Child of Jesus Catholic Church. It will begin at 6 p.m.

JEANERETTE – Vermilion Catholic piled up 400 yards of offense, and its defense was relentless in a 42-8 win over Jeanerette on Friday that kept the Eagles unbeaten on the season at 7-0 overall and 3-0 in District 7-A action.
VC moves up to No. 2 in the Select Division IV Power rankings.
The Eagles scored on all six of their first-half possessions to lead 42-0 at halftime, triggering an automatic running clock for the second half. Jeanerette was held to 202 total yards and scored on the game’s last play with under a minute remaining on the running clock.
VC coach Broc Prejean said the defense has been playing well because the players are listening to and trusting the coaching staff to prepare them and communicating on the field.
“And then just playing our brand of football, which is just gritty, 11 men to the football kind of play,” he said.
Junior linebacker Allen McLain said the defense worked hard over the summer. The defensive players watch film avidly and go into each game aiming for a shutout.
“We came into this week thinking we were going into a state championship game, and we came out hot, hot, hot, and we put a shutout to them, and they just couldn’t do much to us,” he said. “We come out focused.”
VC was No. 3 in the most recent unofficial select Division IV power rankings, while Jeanerette was second in non-select Division IV. Prejean said that though the score was lopsided, he respects what coach C.C. Paul is doing at Jeanerette.
“Coach Paul is doing a great job, and I’m genuine when I say I respect what he’s doing with Jeanerette, and I’m glad to see them on the uptick,” Prejean said. “But again, I think coach Brodie (Savoie) had them prepared for every front we saw tonight, and we kind of had answers for what they jumped into.”
Paul said his team (5-2 overall, 2-2 district) is learning how to win right now, while VC, which reached the state championship game last year, already knows how to win. Though the Tigers went 1-2 in a brutal stretch of games against district opponents Central Catholic, Hanson and VC over the last three weeks, that experience is helping his team improve, he said.
Quarterback Jonathan Dartez had a hand in five of the Eagles’ touchdowns, rushing for 80 yards and two TDs and throwing for 185 yards and three touchdowns.
“(Number) 1 (Dartez) can do a lot of things,” Prejean said. “He’s not a one-trick pony. He showed up and made some big throws in some big spots, and our wide receivers were tremendous with yards after catch.”
Ross Dartez led the Eagles with four catches for 82 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown. Andrew Prejean had a 52-yard TD reception, and Jyrin Bessard added a 23-yard touchdown catch. Dane Richoux (15 yards) and Ethan Landry (13 yards) also had catches of more than 10 yards.
“Andrew Prejean did great, slipped open to open the game, Jy with a big fourth-down catch, and then we have Ross on the screen,” Broc Prejean said. “We distributed the ball. That’s who we want to be.”
The Eagles opened the game with a nine-play, 60-yard scoring drive that took nearly four minutes off the clock. Jonathan Dartez scored on a one-yard run after Tyjh Williams had brought the ball to the 4-yard line with a 25-yard carry. The Eagles tacked on a 2-point conversion carry by Dartez for an 8-0 lead.
Dartez threw to Prejean for 52 yards and a touchdown on the next series for a 15-0 lead following Richoux’s point-after.
Bessard scored on a fourth-down catch, breaking a tackle to get to the end zone from 23 yards out on the next series to build the lead to 22-0.
After VC forced a fumble that Ross Dartez recovered, Jonathan Dartez threw a screen pass to Ross Dartez on the next snap for a 45-yard touchdown play.
VC made it 35-0 on another one-play scoring drive after forcing a shanked punt with good pressure on the kicker. Williams broke loose from the 41 to give the Eagles a five-touchdown advantage. Williams finished the game with a team-best 121 yards on eight carries.
Jeanerette finally got its offense moving after that touchdown, driving from the JHS 18 to the VC 16 before turning the ball over on downs.
The Eagles responded by driving 84 yards in nine plays, capped by a five-yard carry from Jonathan Dartez, that made it 42-0 after Richoux’s kick.
“We prepare like we want to (score on every possession),” Broc Prejean said. “That’s what I say. The expectations I leave on the kids. We prepare. We want to do those things. We want to be efficient and tonight we were.”

ERATH - The Kaplan Pirates are in a place they have not been since the 2016 season when they won 13 straight games before falling to Amite in the semifinals of the playoffs.
On Friday, the Pirates beat the Erath Bobcats 16-13 and improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the district.
The last great start for a Pirate team was the 2016 Pirates, under former head coach Stephen Lotief.
KHS head coach Cory Brodie was proud of his team for winning their second straight district game.
“It means a lot more to be 2-0 in the district,” said Brodie. “We took the tough route tonight. We have to do a better job converting fourth down and one plays. We did not convert on three fourth-down plays. We need to finish the game.”
Kaplan is at home Friday to battle the St. Martinville Tigers. Erath travels to Abbeville (4-2).
With a sophomore quarterback, the Bobcats (1-6) almost pulled off the upset win over the Pirates.
EHS head coach Eric LeBlanc said, “ When you are 1-and-5, work hard and there is no reward. It stings. We are that close to winning.”
Late in the fourth period, the Pirates got the ball back, leading 16-13, with just under three minutes to go. The game plan was to pick up a first down on the drive and eat up the clock. Erath’s defense had another idea. They stopped Kaplan on four straight plays, including a fourth down and three with 1:05 to play in the game.
The Bobcats got the ball back at mid field and needed to move downfield quick.
Sophomore QB Jack Landry almost converted the miracle drive in the final minute.
The Bobcats moved the ball down to the KHS 35-yard-line with only 35 seconds left to play in the game. Landry completed back-to-back passes, including an 11-yard pass to Bo Lancon. Unfortunately, time ran out on the Bobcats.
Landry, making his first career start because three-year starting quarterback Lynkon Romero injured his shoulder last week, did not have a bad game. He completed 12 out of 19 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns. He was also sacked three times, including one in the end zone, resulting in a Kaplan safety.
Kaplan defensive end Remy Broussard said the defensive game plan was simple. Put pressure on the sophomore quarterback.
“We wanted to get to Jack and put pressure on him,” said Broussard. “If we did that, it would change Erath’s offense.”
The KHS defense sacked Landry seven times. Broussard had four, Hayes Broussard added two and Gunnar Bourque had the sack in the end zone.
Erath stunned the Pirates on the first play of a game when Landry completed a 53-yard touchdown reception to Bo Lancon. Just like that, EHS was up 7-0.
The score remained 7-0 until the six-minute mark in the second quarter. Kaplan’s defensive players Hayes Broussard and Remy Broussard teamed to sack Landry in the endzone.
After the safety, Kaplan got the ball back on the free kick and marched 77 yards in seven plays. Running backs Daylon Landry and Jed Devoltz carried the pigkin downfield.
On third down and goal from the 4, Devoltz scored a touchdown on a run.
In four minutes, Kaplan went from being down 7-0 to leading 10-7.
With 1:41 left in the half, Landry led Erath downfield for a touchdown. Landry connected with Payton Pickens for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds left in the first half. The two-point run attempt was no good, giving EHS a 13-10 lead at halftime.
Erath gained all of its first half yards in the air. Landry completed six out of nine passes for 144 yards. EHS had only 10 yards rushing.
The Pirates, on the other hand, had 180 yards rushing in the first half. Devoltz had 90 of those 180 yards. Devoltz finished the game with 27 carries for 144 yards.
“In a rivalry game like this, to give up the first touchdown on the first play is big,” said Brodie. “Then we go down and get stopped on the goal-line, but turn right back around and get the safety. We never quit. It is a whole different mindset with these players. This is an awesome feeling to do it on the road.”