The Louisiana Supreme Court has declined to take up the issue of the Caddo Parish sheriff’s race, which was decided on Nov. 18 by a single vote, meaning a special election will decide the contest on March 23.
In a Dec. 28 decision, five members of the high court decided not to review a Second Circuit Court of Appeal opinion that ordered a new election runoff between Democrat Henry Whitehorn and Republican John Nickelson. During the Nov. 18 election, Whitehorn won by a single vote.
But both a trial court and the appeals court found that out of the 43,241 votes recorded, enough questionable ballots were cast to throw out the results. Election officials found that two people voted twice, four people who were ineligible to vote cast ballots and at least five mail-in ballots that were tallied should not have been counted.
Two justices on the high court – John Weimer and Piper Griffin – issued opinions disagreeing with the court majority. The majority did not explain their reasoning to deny review, but Justice Scott Crichton explained his reasoning for siding with the majority in a concurring opinion.
“In a race as close as this, an irregularity affecting even a single vote cannot be disregarded,” Crichton said. “The trial record in this case proves at least one illegality that renders the results of the election impossible to determine. Thus, I join the four other justices in denying the writ application in this matter because, in my view, the courts below reached the correct result in declaring the election void and ordering a new election. …”
He also expressed “grave concerns” about election integrity and issues with contesting the results of such parish elections.
Nickelson’s initial lawsuit set the litigation in motion, prompting the state’s Democratic Party chairwoman to cast the moves to challenge the election results as a partisan effort by Republicans to suppress the vote.
“John Nickelson, the Republican attorney in the race, has zero law enforcement experience, but much like Donald Trump, he refuses to accept the results of the election,” Katie Bernhardt said in an email to the Louisiana Record, adding that the high court’s denial of Whitehorn’s appeal was disheartening and disappointing.
Nickelson misled people into believing that two Caddo Parish residents voted twice for Whitehorn, according to Bernhardt.
“The facts are that the two people who voted twice were both registered Republicans who served in leadership positions for the Republican Party,” she said. “(Nickelson) also misled them into thinking there were people who cast votes under the names of dead people. But the facts are that there were several individuals who freely, rightfully and legally mailed in their ballots, but unfortunately, passed away before Election Day.”
In his dissent, Weimer acknowledged that election officials made mistakes but said their relevance to the outcome of the election was not proved.
“... Delay by the challenger and a lack of evidence that the result of the election would have been different absent the improperly cast votes, means the one-vote margin is the final result and must stand,” he said.
Justice Griffin, the other dissenter, said the key issue is that Nickelson objected to the alleged election irregularities after a time period prescribed by Louisiana law.
“The Election Code provides an extensive framework articulating the requirements for timely challenging election irregularities,” she said in her dissent. “That such procedures may be considered too onerous or burdensome for a candidate is arguably a question of policy best directed to the Legislature.”