Former Youngsville Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux has qualified to run for the office he left citing health reasons last year, but his candidacy may run into a legal hurdle.

YOUNGSVILLE, La. (KLFY) -- Former Youngsville Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux has qualified to run for the office he left citing health reasons last year, but his candidacy may run into a legal hurdle.

Louisiana State Law appears to render Boudreaux ineligible to run for his old office. According to state law RS 18:586, "No elected official who has retired or resigned from state or local elective office shall be eligible as a candidate at an election called to fill the vacancy created by the retirement or resignation of the elected official." That law took effect June 6, 2023.

Voters will go to the polls in a special election Nov. 5 to elect a new chief for the remainder of the term which Boudreax resigned, which ends Dec. 31, 2026, with a runoff if necessary Dec. 7.

Boudreaux has qualified for the election according to the Secretary of State's website, but in order for the law to be enforced, a citizen of the City of Youngsville must file a challenge of his candidacy with the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's Office, which would then investigate the challenge.

According to the Sectretary of State's Office, an individual who wishes to challenge a candidate's eligibility must file that challenge in a court in a parish within the district no later than 4:30 p.m. seven days after the close of qualifying (in this case, 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 26).

One of the other two candidates for the job, Jean-Paul Broussard, has confirmed to News 10 that neither he nor his campaign plan to file such a challenge.

Neither Boudreaux nor the other candidate, current interim chief Cody Louviere, has yet been reached for comment.

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