NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana Democrats, including state. Rep. Mandie Landry (D-New Orleans), say they plan to sue Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin for failing to get mail-in-ballots to voters in time for the July 11 elections.
“Ultimately, it is the Secretary of State, his job to ensure voting and elections are fair and safe, and we all knew that this was going to be an issue this year,” Landry told WAFB. “We’ve seen it happen around the country, and we really feel like there were not enough precautions and not enough communication in place.”
An estimated 4,000 ballots in Orleans Parish alone were not delivered to voters in time, WAFB reported.
Louisiana state. Rep. Mandie Landry (D-New Orleans)
| https://mandielandry.com/
“I’m just going to go in person next time unless I get something from the Secretary of State that enables us to be sure that our ballots get counted and that all ballots do get there,” said voter Robert Benedict, who wanted to vote by mail because of the COVID-19 pandemic but did not receive his ballot in time. “I waited but we never got any actual ballots, so like we normally do we went to the polls and voted.”
A spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office said it has no record of Benedict requesting a mail-in ballot, adding that the Registrar of Voters is responsible for sending out mail-in ballots.
According to the East Baton Rouge Registrar of Voters, there were no widespread complaints from voters in the parish on mail-in ballots, according to WAFB.
Voters are not to blame, said Landry.
“It’s not the voters’ fault if the registrar sent it late, if the Secretary of State processed them late, if the mail was late,” Landry told the station.
Almost 100,000 Louisiana voters did cast their ballots by mail in the July 11 elections, WAFB reported.