Lewis elected to Grambling council seat

Jerry Lewis is the final new member of the Grambling City Council.

Complete but unofficial returns from Saturday’s runoff election show Lewis beat opponent Karen Ludley 194 to127. That gave Lewis 60% of the vote to Ludley’s 40%.

Turnout for the election was a scant 15%.

The Grambling council race was the only candidate contest on the ballot.

Lewis will join Delores Wilkerson Smith, Devaria Hudson Ponton, John F. Brown, Jr., and Cathy Holmes on the council. Smith, Ponton, Brown, and Holmes were elected in the Nov. 8 primary.

Grambling’s council members are elected at large.

Though Lewis came in fifth in the primary, his 317 votes weren’t enough to avoid a runoff.

According to Louisiana election law, in races in which there are two more seats to be filled, the number of votes necessary to win has to be more than the total votes cast for all candidates divided by the number of seats to be filled and dividing again by two.

That meant to win outright in the primary, Lewis needed 327 votes.

Holmes is the only incumbent returning to the council. All of the council members-elect are Democrats. They take office Jan. 1.