Donna Lanceslin has made a stunning political decision.

The past week, the mayor of Baldwin chose to withdraw her name from the Nov. 6 ballot, thus ending her quest to seek a second term as the civic leader of the small community in St. Mary Parish. 

The former longtime educator apparently made the decision that was best for herself and her family, and one would assume she thought it was also best for the residents of Baldwin. 

For that, Lanceslin should be applauded. 

It is not far-fetched to assume that it probably wasn’t an easy choice for Lanceslin to ultimately make. Lanceslin probably spent hours, or days even, praying what to do and probably had lengthy discussions with her inner circle about the decision. 

And if Lanceslin didn’t feel that she was not up for another term then it was the right decision to not seek re-election. 

Here is the problem. Her decision to back out of the election is a disservice to our democracy. With her redrawing from the ballot, that means that Abel “Phil” Prejean is running unopposed — thus making him the new mayor. 

The former director of the Port of West St. Mary could very well do a fine job as mayor, maybe even a great job, but the fact remains the residents of Baldwin now have no choice in deciding who their leader will be. 

If Lanceslin really in her heart didn’t want to run for re-election, then she shouldn’t have signed up for qualifying. 

True, even then there would only be one candidate who would win the election but that would have been better than backing out the way she did. Or better yet, why not decide not to run and announce that months ago. If she would have done that maybe someone else would have thrown their hat in the politcal ring. That could have given local voters at least a choice in the politcal process.

Lanceslin’s decision is understandable but one that is a disservice to her constituents.

RAYMOND PARTSCH III

MANAGING EDITOR