Louisiana Secretary of State asks governor to not veto voter canvass bill

PHOTO:  Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin made Louisiana the first state to pull out of the Electronic Record Information Center collaboration. Photo courtesy Wes Muller, LA Illuminator.

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin sent an open letter Thursday to Gov. John Bel Edwards asking him to not veto a bill that would allow his agency to perform a supplemental voter canvass every year.

The legislation is House Bill 646, sponsored by Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur. The majority-Republican legislature has passed similar versions of the bill in two previous sessions, and Edwards has vetoed them each time. They are unnecessary because parish registrars already conduct voter canvasses once every year, the governor has said.

An annual voter canvass looks for residents who have changed addresses or moved out of state. The parish registrar mails them a new voter identification card to fill out. If they fail to return the card, they can be moved to an inactive voters list.

Farnum’s legislation would allow Ardoin’s office to send similar cards to people who have been inactive voters for at least 10 years. If those people fail to return the cards, they could be purged from voter rolls.

In his letter, Ardoin said the bill is not a duplication of canvass efforts and would not remove eligible voters from the rolls.

“Your veto is contrary to an overwhelming majority of the legislature, who have passed a version of this bill three years in a row,” Ardoin wrote. “Your veto is at odds with the individuals of this state who demand and deserve accurate voter rolls. Your veto is simply echoing talking points from out-of-state activists who fight election integrity at all levels and have no hands-on experience with Louisiana’s elections.”

d