The fall election season will ramp up this week as a three-day qualifying period begins tomorrow for candidates to sign up for the elected position they would like to serve. There are seven major candidates in the governor’s race. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says we’ll know by the end of the business day on Thursday if all seven will actually have their name on the ballot…
Cut 14 (07) “…have the names.”
Pinsonat says there’s a chance one of two will decide not to qualify.

The 2023 “I Voted” sticker was unveiled this morning, featuring the state bird, a pelican, and her three chicks. Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin says he along with New Orleans artist Becky Fos chose the title “Confidence” for this year’s sticker.
Cut 9 (11) “…State’s Office.”
Fos’s colorful artwork for last year’s sticker, which featured the state capitol, won the Elections Assistance Commissions sticker contest last year.

If you’ve never attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Operation Smoke Sheaux, tonight’s your chance to get a behind-the-scenes look on the Food Network’s BBQ USA. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”

Chef Brody Olive of Voyagers at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, Alabama won the Great American Seafood Cookoff Contest in New Orleans over the weekend. Olive prepared Gafftop catfish smoked over scrub oak, flash-fried mole crabs with Gulf shrimp horseradish cream.