Louisiana Governor Landry Is Weaponizing Disaster Law to Undermine Voting Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry issued an executive order suspending his state's congressional primary elections — which were already underway, with mail ballots sent and early voting set to begin last Saturday — citing R.S. 18:401.1(B), a provision of the Louisiana Election Code designed for hurricanes, floods, and natural disasters. But here’s the catch: there is no hurricane, there is no flood, there is no disaster. There is only a governor who saw the opportunity to improve his party’s election odds and postponed an election.

The Supreme Court ruled on April 29 that Louisiana's congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander—opening the door for Governor Landry and Louisianan Republicans to pass a new congressional map. Rather than let the election play out, Governor Landry reached for a statutory emergency power that is meant to protect voters displaced by natural disasters and used it to silence voters in a federal election already underway.  

"Emergency laws exist to protect people when the earth shakes or the levees break — not to give governors cover for canceling elections they find inconvenient," said Sabotaging Our Safety  Advisory Council Member Lauren Groh-Wargo. "Louisiana voters are still going to the polls — and their full ballot should count. There is no emergency here, just raw abuse of power. Governor Landry is taking away their full vote and voice because he's more interested in partisan advantage and white supremacy than protecting voting rights."

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