BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana election officials say if the presidential primary is any indication, voter turnout for the upcoming November election could be the largest we’ve seen in recent years.
Voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit, claiming the state is doing too little to protect ballot access this fall and should have widened mail-in voting options amid the Coronavirus outbreak.
Mail-in voting has become a political football.
Currently there are some people who can vote by mail in Louisiana, but most are for extenuating circumstances.
Many Republicans like Senator Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, claim the option could lead to mass voter fraud.
“There are some areas that are problematic,” Cassidy said. “In California there is so-called ballot harvesting where you go to a homeless shelter and you have folks sign up for a candidate.”
Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, sponsored a bill in the state legislature that would have allowed all registered voters to vote by mail in all state elections, including this fall’s presidential contest.
The measure never made it to the House floor.
“That is a gross over simplification and flat out untruth about the situation when people say vote by mail leads to fraud, that’s an urban legend,” Landry said.
Cassidy, a physician, said if people can shop safely in stores, they can vote in person at the polls even during the Coronavirus outbreak.
“Clearly, folks are still buying groceries,” Cassidy said. “They are still going to Wal-Mart. They’re just socially distancing when they do that.”
“For them to just lie to their constituents and say if you can go to Wal-Mart you can vote, not everyone goes to Wal-Mart, not everyone is capable of going to the grocery store,” Landry said. “They might not be able to leave their house.”
Orleans Parish Clerk of Court Arthur Morrell said just like the July election, his commissioners will make sure polling areas are safe for everyone.
“Our commissioners because they are going to be exposed to many people coming in they had gowns on, shoes, and masks and gloves,” Morrell said. “Every time a voter went into the voting machine the machine was sanitized.”
An emergency plan for Louisiana’s July presidential primary and August municipal elections-increased early voting by six days and slightly expanded mail-in balloting for some people at higher risk from the virus.
Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, the state’s top election official said his office continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation across the state and explore options for the election in November.
Ardoin also said he is talking with legislative leaders and the governor regarding the potential for an emergency election plan for the fall elections.