Louisiana Voice

A coalition of 25 Louisiana organizations, including the ACLU and the NAACP have sent a five-page letter to Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin urging and expansion of Vote-by-Mail eligibility to all voters—not just those 65 and older—in light of the anticipated impact on voters in the upcoming November elections.

The letter, signed by Louisiana NCCCP President Dr. Michael W. McClanahan, The Poser Coalition for Equity and Justice Executive Director Ashley Shelton, and Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) Executive Director Norris Henderson, also asked that Ardoin:

Provide public guidance and emergency qualifications if “no-excuse” absentee voting is not allowed;

Extend the absentee request deadline and return deadline, and

Remove the witness requirement for absentee voting.

“As demonstrated during the recent Presidential Preference and Municipal Primary Elections, this duty (to provide everyone the opportunity to exercise their right to vote) cannot be fulfilled during a health crisis if all necessary measures are not taken to ensure that voters are able to vote and that poll workers and election officials are able to prepare for and administer elections safely,” the letter said.

“By every indication, Louisianans will have to continue to navigate elections amid a health crisis with life and death ramifications,” it said, noting that by the recent July 11 election day, Louisiana “had one of the highest new case rates in the world.”

Ardoin’s office, it said, “must alert the public about how these critical health and safety considerations” will be undertaken in the upcoming November and December elections. “Louisiana voters will, as they have historically, seek to vote in substantial numbers. Action is necessary now to ensure the safety of voters and elections workers through these elections,” it said.

Some voters, it said, were left without adequate means of participating in the July election because qualifications to vote by mail did not cover all voters at risk or contracting the coronavirus. “Other voters who would have qualified under the Emergency Election Plan (implemented for that election) did not become symptomatic in time to request a ballot by the deadline,” it said, adding that “many voters never received their ballot, nor were they provided with any remedies to participate other than showing up in person, putting their own health, and the health of their communities, at risk on election day.”

The letter said clarity was needed for the Election Plan for July and August if no-excuse absentee vote by mail is not offered because the current emergency ballot application is vague and confusing. To read the complete text of the letter, go HERE.