An executive order signed on Monday by Gov. Jeff Landry took aim at the problem of non-American citizens who would attempt to vote in Louisiana.
Since 2022, only 48 non-citizens have been identified and removed from the state’s voter roll, according to Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry.
Landry’s executive order will require Louisiana agencies to accompany voter registration forms with a disclaimer explaining that it’s illegal for non-citizens to register to vote.
New laws in the name of election integrity could make voting in Louisiana more difficult for some
The order comes ahead of a fraught election season and just behind a slew of new state laws which advocacy groups agree will make voting in Louisiana more difficult.
Four of those laws have been challenged in a federal lawsuit by a Louisiana organization that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities.
Act 380, sponsored by Rep. Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, prohibits a person from mailing an absentee ballot for more than one person who isn’t an immediate family member.
Act 317, by Rep. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, prohibits a person from giving an absentee ballot to more than one person who isn’t an immediate family member.
The last two laws included in the suit, Act 307 by Kleinpeter and Act 712, by Rep. Polly Thomas, R-Metaire, prohibit a person from being a witness on an absentee ballot for more than one person who isn’t an immediate family member. Act 712 also requires witnesses to be over the age of 18.
Not included in the lawsuit, but similarly limiting is Act 701, also by Thomas, which requires organizations and individuals who’d like to conduct voter registration drives to register with the Secretary of State’s office.
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Louisiana leads the South in election integrity and ranks toward the top, nationally
Despite the Republican Legislature’s preoccupation with election integrity, Louisiana ranks among the country’s best when it comes to the issue of voting.
The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that originated the controversial Project 2025, ranked Louisiana as 10th in the nation for election integrity and No. 1 in the South for the 2020 presidential election.
Local advocacy organizations contend that the recent spate of laws are designed to skew election integrity rather than strengthen it.
“Unfortunately, I think that Louisiana’s Legislature has chosen to adopt policies that mirror states that are not doing everything possible to make voting easier, and that’s definitely concerning,” said Charles Phipps, senior director of the Urban League of Louisiana, to the Times-Picayune. “Some folks believe that if I can get less folks to vote, then I have a better chance of winning.”
