MELVILLE, La. (AP) — A first-term mayor running for reelection in a small southwest Louisiana town was killed in a crash just hours before the polls closed on Election Day.
Louisiana State Police said Melville Mayor Velma Hendrix’s car was T-boned on U.S. Highway 190 after a driver in a pickup truck ran a stop sign Tuesday morning. Hendrix, 84, was in the rear passenger seat and was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and died later that same day, news outlets reported.
Four other people in the car were treated at area hospitals for various injuries.
Police said the truck driver, Michael Cook, showed no signs of being impaired, and he was ticketed for failing to yield at a stop sign and driving without a seat belt.
Hendrix was one of three candidates to qualify for the Melville mayor’s race. She finished last in Tuesday’s election with 70 votes out of 423 ballots cast. The two other candidates, Sheila Londerno and Caretta Robertson, each finished without a majority of the votes, which would have sent the election to a Dec. 10 runoff.
But because Hendrix died before polls closed, state law requires that any votes cast for her be disregarded, leaving Londerno with an 11-vote lead and a 52% majority in the mayoral race. However, state law also requires the race to be reopened for new candidates to qualify.
One new candidate, Republican Robert Barnett, qualified Wednesday. Additional candidates can qualify for the race through 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Londerno and Robertson will remain qualified, St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court Charlie Jagneaux said.
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