Watch the DNC balloon drop and Kamala Harris, Tim Walz’s reactions
Here’s what it looked like from the floor of the United Center in Chicago at the end of the DNC.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Monday requiring all state government agencies to make it clear to those applying for benefits or state IDs and driver’s licenses that only citizens are allowed to vote in Louisiana elections.
Most government agencies are required to provide anyone who applies for benefits with a voter registration form. Landry’s order requires the voter registration forms to be accompanied with a written declaration emphasizing only citizens can vote.
It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in any Louisiana election or any other state or federal election, but Landry said his order will add an extra layer of election integrity.
“The right to vote is a privilege reserved for American citizens,” Landry said in Monday’s news conference, where he was joined by Republican Secretary of State Nancy Landry and Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill. “In Louisiana election integrity is a top priority.”
There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Louisiana, which is ranked No. 10 for election integrity by the conservative Heritage Foundation and was No. 1 in the South by the Election Integrity Project for the 2020 presidential election.
Nancy Landry, the state’s chief elections officer, said 48 noncitizens have been removed from Louisiana’s voter rolls during the past three years.
“I’m confident in our policies and procedures… but I won’t let confidence turn into complacency,” she said. “This represents an extra layer of protection to make sure only (citizens) vote in Louisiana elections. I won’t be satisfied until we’re No. 1 in election integrity.”
Murrill echoed Landry, agreeing that Louisiana’s elections have been overwhelmingly free and fair.
“Louisiana elections are secure, and we plan to keep it that way,” Murrill said in support of the governor’s executive order.
Gov. Landry also touted a new state law, Senate Bill 436, that requires proof of citizenship to be allowed to vote in Louisiana.
It’s a theme Republicans in the U.S. House, led by Speaker Mike Johnson of Shreveport, elevated this year leading up to the presidential election.
House Republicans passed a bill this summer that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
Johnson said the SAFE Act passed by the House in July, which isn’t expected to be taken up in the Senate and is opposed by President Biden, makes a preemptive strike for election integrity.
“Would we prefer to wait for fraud to happen and only do something after elections are finalized?,” Johnson said on the House floor. “No, we have to catch the fraud on the front end so there’s no question about the integrity of our votes.”
In a statement, the Biden administration said the “alleged justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods. … States already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters’ eligibility and maintain the accuracy of voter rolls. This bill would do nothing to safeguard our elections, but it would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls.”
More: Louisiana Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc resigns
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
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Publish date : 2024-08-26 07:33:00
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