He’s charged with crimes against two 13-year-old girls. On November 3, he’s the only name on the ballot to become a Louisiana town’s police chief.
Christopher Paul is running unopposed for chief of police in Elizabeth, Louisiana — a village of about 500 people in Allen Parish. He was arrested September 8 on two second-degree felony counts, according to state police.
Nobody else filed to run. The village has no mechanism to pull him off the ballot. Unless he withdraws, a man facing those charges takes over a police department in five weeks.
The Charges
State police say both victims were 13 years old, and the alleged attacks happened roughly twenty years ago. Paul turned himself in after the charges were filed.
He is out on bond while the case moves. He has not been convicted of anything, and the charges remain allegations until a court says otherwise.
The mayor’s response to it all: the charges are allegations, not a conviction. In a town of five hundred people, that statement is doing a lot of work.
The Ballot Problem
Louisiana’s candidate qualifying period has closed, so no replacement candidate can step in. The ballot is what it is: one name, one outcome.
A pending charge doesn’t automatically disqualify a candidate under state law. That decision belongs to voters alone — and in Elizabeth, every voter gets exactly one option.
There is no recall mechanism to use before he takes office, and no council vote that removes him. The only lever is the one built into the system: he can withdraw by choice, or voters can leave the choice alone.
What Happens Next
Paul’s criminal case runs in parallel with his campaign. Election day is November 3.
If he wins and is later convicted of a felony, Louisiana law strips the office from him. The town would be back where it started — minus a chief, minus time, with a department that answered to nobody in between.
The question Elizabeth faces in five weeks is simple to ask and hard to answer: should a man with charges like these hold the top badge in town?
#OhDangReally #ChrisPaul #ElizabethLouisiana
