PLAQUEMINE - After narrowly getting shut out of the runoff by a margin of 33 votes, Plaquemine mayoral candidate Tonya Harmason (I) has filed a petition to contest the results of the town's mayoral election. She claims she's a victim of voter suppression and fraud.

After 3,531 voters cast ballots in the Plaquemine mayor's race, JB Barker (I) came in first with 1,569 votes or about 45% of the vote. Tonya Harmason finished with 950 votes, just 33 votes behind Timmy Martinez (D) in the battle for a runoff spot.

The day after the election, Harmason told WBRZ she was considering challenging the results. This week, she challenged those results.

"I went up for answers, and I wanted to know why it took the early votes so late to come in. I got several different answers. I got the computers got jammed, I got they had to send for a part from another precinct out of Port Allen or somewhere," Harmason said.

The early voting numbers accounted for nearly 50 percent of the total votes cast. Barker had 821 of those, Martinez had 494 and Harmason had 312.

Harmason claims that more than 30 individuals had told poll watchers they had had their names removed from voter logs in the polling location where they have voted in the past.

She also claims that district boundaries changed without notice.
Harmason wants the court to halt the run-off, claiming officials violated the Voting Rights Acts of 1965. She says the voters turned away from the polls were black.

"I had a problem with J.B. Barker's daughter-in-law being over the Registrar of Voters office and, you know, to have all these problems," Harmason said.

The Iberville Registrar of Voters is Kirsha Barker. According to a memorandum, Barker has asked that she be dismissed as a defendant.

She also said Harmason's claims are not supported by the facts.

A court date is set for Monday morning in West Baton Rouge Parish.