A state appeals court has ordered a new runoff election in Caddo Parish to decide the outcome of the Nov. 18 race for sheriff, which was decided by a single vote amid some findings of voting irregularities.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeal this week affirmed the judgment of a trial court that concluded the true result of the election could not be determined because election officials had confirmed two people voted twice in the election, four ineligible people cast ballots and at least five mail-in ballots should have been excluded from the vote tally.
In the unofficial vote count, candidate Henry Whitehorn defeated John Nickelson in the runoff race for Caddo sheriff by one vote out of a total of 43,241 votes cast, according to the appeals court opinion. A recount turned up six additional votes, but the one-vote margin in favor of Whitehorn remained unchanged.
In turn, Nickelson filed a lawsuit naming Whitehorn and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin as defendants and arguing that the trial court should call for a new election. Whitehorn has argued that his opponent failed to introduce evidence that is compelling enough to alter the single-vote election margin and failed to object to irregularities in a timely manner.
“We are ultimately constrained to find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s determination that a new election is warranted in this matter,” the appeals court said in its Dec. 12 opinion. “There is no dispute that this election was decided by one vote. Clearly, irregularities existed in the voting for the office of Caddo Parish Sheriff.”
The problematic election-day votes cast a cloud over the outcome, and it was impossible for election officials to determine whom these people voted for in the sheriff’s race, the court concluded.
In a statement earlier this month, Whitehorn referred to himself as “sheriff-elect” and vowed to take the legal fight to the state Supreme Court if required.
“If we are unsuccessful at getting a reversal of the district court’s decision and forced to have a special election, my faith in God and my belief in the great people of Caddo Parish assures me that, for a third time, I will win the sheriff’s race,” he said.
Previously, Nickelson wrote to Whitehorn to outline the irregular votes cast and to urge him to avoid extended litigation in the case.
“I invite you to join me in asking the district court to order a second runoff election,” Nickelson said in the Nov. 24 letter. “A contentious and expensive lawsuit during the upcoming holiday season probably would end in the same result.”
A spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office said earlier this week that he was limited in what he could say about the case.
“Currently, the ad-hoc judge has ruled and the case is under appeal by Whitehorn,” John Tobler, a deputy secretary of state, said in an email to the Louisiana Record. “Our office will not be commenting while appeals are available.”
Two appeals court judges dissented from the majority opinion. The dissenters contend that Nickelson should have raised the specifics of the voter-roll irregularities and other problems by the day of the election, as prescribed by Louisiana law.
“Nickelson argues the complained-of irregularities in the election ‘could have’ affected the outcome of the election,” Judge Marcus Hunter said in his dissent. “There is no allegation or proof the irregularities in this case were so pervasive a nature as to warrant the nullification of an election. Further, Nickelson has failed to prove but for the irregularities, the outcome of the election would have been different.”