An Amite city councilman was arrested on multiple counts of election fraud earlier this month in conjunction with an investigation carried out by the Louisiana attorney general and secretary of state.
District 3 Councilman Emanuel Zanders III is accused of eight counts of violating state law by submitting voter registration applications that he knew to be false or fraudulent, according to Attorney General Jeff Landry’s Office.
Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said the arrest is not an indication that widespread voter fraud was carried out during the 2020 elections.
“Election integrity matters, and last week’s arrest proves that while election fraud is rare, the multi-level processes and procedures of our elections work,” Ardoin said in an email to the Louisiana Record. He added that the arrest should serve as a warning to others who might be thinking about violating the state’s election laws.
Zanders was arrested in the southeastern Louisiana community on Jan. 4 as the culmination of a probe involving the Secretary of State’s Office and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation. Ardoin’s office was tipped off in October to concerns about possible fraudulent voter registration forms by the Tangipahoa Parish Registrar of Voters.
Landry’s office has alleged that Zanders manipulated the voter registration forms of more than 20 Louisiana residents. The forms were filled out by the councilman using fraudulent addresses, according to the attorney general, and some of the addresses used were those of vacant lots.
“Anything other than a one-for-one vote distorts our election process,” Landry said in a prepared statement. “Those who wish to distort an election in this matter are breaking the law and betraying their fellow citizens. It is even more disheartening when the perpetrator is an elected official.”
In September, a Crawley woman was convicted on similar voter fraud charges by purposefully marking a senior voter’s ballot in a way that went against the voter’s wishes. Delores Handy received a sentence of two years’ probation, an $800 fine and a requirement to pay court costs.