Gov. John Bel Edwards has given a thumbs-down to Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s emergency plan for the Nov. 3 election, saying the plan falls short of protecting public health during the coronavirus pandemic.
Edwards earlier this month signed an order proclaiming that a public-health emergency will continue through the fall presidential election due to COVID-19. The secretary of state’s plan can’t be implemented without the approval of the governor and legislature.
The Secretary of State’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the organization Louisiana Vote-by-Mail, which favors a vote-by-mail option for all Louisiana residents, applauded Edwards’ stance.
“He is holding Kyle Ardoin’s feet to the fire in a fight to protect democracy in Louisiana,” Charlie Stephens, the group’s director, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “We have seen in other states when legislative efforts fail that protecting democracy in the courts is a viable option. We don't, however, think that the courts should have to fix this. This failure rests solely with the secretary of state, who politicized the process of running elections in the state.”
Among the criticisms leveled at the Ardoin plan is that it provides an early voting period of 10 days, in contrast to the 13-day period provided during the summer elections. Under normal conditions, seven days of early voting at designated locations around the state are allowed.
Edwards also criticized the plan for its limitations on who can apply to obtain an absentee ballot.
“The current plan includes no exemptions for people who are at high risk for getting ill from COVID or those who live with and care for these people,” the governor said in a prepared statement. “And, most seriously of all, it doesn’t offer an option for someone who has known exposure to COVID-19 and is in quarantine to vote by mail.”
The state should expand absentee mail-in voting as it did during the last two elections, Edwards said, though he stopped short of advocating for mail-in options for all Louisiana voters.
The secretary of state’s plan permits seniors age 65 and over, overseas voters, those who are hospitalized, military service members and certain others to request absentee ballots.
The Ardoin plan also casts doubt on whether the U.S. Postal Service can timely deliver all the mail-in ballots back to election officials. Postal workers delayed delivering thousands of ballots due to insufficient postage and other reasons during the July 11 election, the report states, and similar concerns about post office reliability in delivering ballots have occurred in Indiana, New York and New Jersey, the plan says.