Calling it "woefully inadequate," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards on Tuesday said Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin's emergency election plan for voting amid the coronavirus pandemic is not something he can support, and said he wouldn't be surprised if the courts had to get involved.
Secretary Ardoin's plan for voting in the fall elections does not expand eligibility for mail-in absentee ballots to people who are at higher risk of severe complications from the virus or people who have been told to quarantine because they may have been exposed to the virus.
"I do not support his plan. I don’t believe that it accommodates all the voters that should be accommodated in the public health emergency," Edwards said during his new conference Tuesday afternoon. "It doesn’t take into account the seriousness of this pandemic."
I want to be crystal clear: you should not mistake me declaring an emergency for this election as approving of the Secretary of State’s election plan, because I do not. I believe that we need emergency procedures in place for this election. https://t.co/AAeWDQF7nk #lagov #lalege
— John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov)
August 18, 2020 Ardoin says the previous election plan for the primaries was developed when the state was in a stay-at-home order, while it is now in phase two of reopening. While the stay-at-home order was in effect when the election plan was developed, by the time the elections happened in the summer, the state had advanced to phase two.
State lawmakers are set to begin hearings on election plans on Wednesday.
