NEW ORLEANS — To ensure Louisiana maintains high marks nationwide for election security, lawmakers passed a package of bills they hope will do just that. Newly elected Sectary of State Nancy Landry said as far as running elections, we run a tight ship in Louisiana.
Landry said, "In Louisiana, we have really good elections. It's something we do right in Louisiana. We are ranked in the top 10 in the nation."
Even though that's the cause, she said things could be better.
"As I was campaigning, I promised people that I would work to make us number one in the nation in election integrity. So I supported a package of bills that would take us from the top 10 to number one," she said.
Lawmakers approved all 11 Landry-backed election bills. Many have already been signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, and some will take effect next election cycle. The majority added language for absentee ballots, such as setting the witness age to 18 and creating a new standard for rejecting absentee ballots with errors.
Landry said, "We feel like all of them were just common-sense measures."
On the other hand, some voting rights advocates feel that these soon-to-be laws missed the mark.
"Anytime we change the election laws, we run the risk of creating more confusion. Now I understand that you want to streamline something or clarify something, yeah that's a good thing. But if you remove something, or you add another step, you run the risk of more people missing that step and stumbling and then not having their vote counted," said Bruce Riley, Deputy Director of Voice of the Experience (VOTE).
Riley testified against some of these bills during the legislative session. He is particularly opposed to the bill that bans people from helping with more than one absentee ballot except for immediate family members.
"So, situations around senior centers that might be in communal living spaces and people might be less mobile. There might be a nurse's aide or somebody who carries two or three ballots to just the mail pickup. What's the guidance?" he said. " What about jails, where there might be hundreds of people who are eligible to vote who want absentee ballots. What is the guidance?"
Landry said, "It's been a law for a long time on the books in Louisiana that nursing home employees cannot assist with voter with absentee ballots."
Overall, Riley believes these new laws completely missed the mark. Riley said lawmakers and the Secretary of State should address getting more information out to people with felony convictions no longer serving a sentence, on probation, and those on parole for over five years who can now vote in Louisiana.
"When you go to the Secretary of State's website, you will get no guidance," he said. "It's clear that there's an intent to disenfranchise these people, which makes it troubling when people talk about voter integrity and election integrity when you're clearly disenfranchising a swath of people."
On that front, Landry couldn't comment further due to pending litigation.
"We follow the law. What we're required to have on our website, we have on our website. I can't comment on that because there is active litigation regarding that," Landry said.
Riley said he would continue pushing the Secretary of State to focus on things that he said would make a real difference in people's lives. Landry said she is hopeful the new laws will further instill public confidence in Louisiana's election system.
"We have safe, fair and accurate elections. This just gives people an extra sense of confidence and lets them know that we're going to continue pushing for election integrity."
Here's a full list of election bills passed provided by the Sectary Of States office:
- HB 114 by Representative Les Farnum: Enacts an expanded voter canvass to further ensure that Louisiana's voter rolls are accurate
- HB 285 (Now Act 264) by Representative Mark Wright: Creates the Division of Election Integrity within the Department of State
- HB 449 (Now Act 25) by Representative Michael Melerine: Requires court judgments of interdiction to be delivered to the Registrar of Voters in the parish in which the interdicted individual is registered
- HB 476 by Representative Josh Carlson: Further cracks down on absentee ballot harvesting
- HB 506 by Representative Polly Thomas: Requires that those conducting voter registration drives register with the Secretary of State's office, ensuring that voter registrations are timely submitted and that voters' personal information is further protected
- HB 581 by Representative Polly Thomas: Provides for more specific penalties for those witnessing more than one absentee ballot of a non-family member; requires that those signing as a witness on an absentee ballot be at least 18 years of age; and requires the witness to provide their address
- SB 101 (Now Act 291) by Senator Blake Miguez: Bans ranked-choice voting in Louisiana elections
- SB 155 (Now Act 302) by Senator Caleb Kleinpeter: Prohibits individuals from assisting with more than one absentee ballot except for immediate family members
- SB 218 (Now Act 317) by Senator Caleb Kleinpeter: Restricts the unsolicited distribution of absentee ballot applications
- SB 226 (Now Act 321) by Senator Heather Cloud: Creates uniform standards for tabulating absentee ballots
- SB 436 by Senator Mike Fesi: Allows the Secretary of State to require proof of United States citizenship when registering to vote
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