After a close primary, candidates sprint to runoff in New Orleans’ Clerk of Court race

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — WGNO is your local election headquarters, and this week, we are covering the races in the upcoming Nov. 15 runoff.

The Clerk of Court’s Office was in the news earlier this year when city employees were caught destroying records.

Good Morning New Orleans anchor LBJ spoke with the incumbent and his opponent who says he’s a victim of what he calls “the decades long dysfunction of that office.”

The primary results for Clerk of Criminal Court was one of the tightest races this year with challenger Calvin Duncan edging out incumbent Darren Lombard 47% to 46%. Both men considered digitalizing records as the biggest issue needing to be addressed.

“I would say that is the most challenging at the time is the case management project. We’re trying to move in nearly 300,000 cases into this system where that information would be available at some point soon,” said candidate Darren Lombard.

Full interview with Darren Lombard

“Records not being available when the public comes to review them and not having them when court starts. Not having the evidence properly preserved,” said candidate Calvin Duncan.

Duncan is a formerly incarcerated man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for a crime he contends he did not commit. He became an attorney and says his lived experience has shown how important it is for the clerk’s office to run efficiently.

“I know the consequences of not having the records available and the consequences of not having them properly stored. And if the evidence is not properly stored, the wrong person is convicted, that evidence can’t be analyzed,” said Duncan.

Lombard credits his experience working in the clerk’s office as reasons why he should be reelected.

Full interview with Calvin Duncan

“So I started out in the clerk’s office in 2006 at the Elections Coordinator. I was there about 6 years. Then I moved over to the Clerk of Second City Court, which I won that seat back in 2012. That helped me hone my position as far as the clerk position itself, along with elections expertise,” said Lombard.

That is the other function of the office, executing our local elections.

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