Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said yesterday that he will not be seeking to expand absentee-by-mail voting, increase the early voting period or enact a coronavirus emergency plan for the fall elections.
Since the pandemic began, the state has offered more ways for people to absentee vote, including last year’s presidential and congressional elections, and boosted the number of early voting days for some of those elections because of the risks of the coronavirus. But Ardoin said he does not intend to submit an emergency plan for the Oct. 9 and Nov. 13 elections to lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards for consideration. He said only a tiny percentage of voters used the prior COVID-19 emergency rules to submit absentee ballots, and he said vaccines are widely available for those interested.
Ardoin said his office will continue to make sure that masks are available at polling places, that physical distancing is used when voters are waiting in line and that sanitation practices are followed.
