Louisiana’s Republican State Central Committee (RSCC), the governing body of the Louisiana Republican Party, recently took a significant step toward a paper ballot voting system and away from voting machines. One of the voting machine experts, Alex J. Halderman, previously testified before the Louisiana Voting System Commission on the gaping vulnerabilities of electronic voting.
A previous resolution by Randolph Bazet was unsuccessful, but on Saturday Christy Haik’s Resolution recommending an auditable paper back-up system passed by a vote of 79-77 with numerous co-sponsors. An irony worth noting is that, at the request of RSCC members who oppose a paper ballot voting system for Louisiana, the RSCC vote on the Haik Resolution was conducted using paper ballots.
It is widely believed that Governor Landry plans to invest a minimum of $100 million of taxpayer money in new voting machines. Landry has significant influence over RSCC policy recommendations in this regard. It would reportedly take a fraction of these funds to train, equip, and hire bi-partisan poll commissioners to conduct elections using a secure paper system.
Saturday’s vote is a strong indication that the momentum is shifting as Republican leaders across the State become more aware of the serious vulnerabilities of machine based voting. There can be little doubt that President Trump’s consistent public call for a far less expensive, counterfeit proof, secure, serialized paper-only system has influenced this shift in opinion and will continue to do so.
Also at work are multiple citizen advocacy groups including but not limited to We The People, Louisiana Republican Assembly, and Louisiana Citizen Advocacy Group. These groups are making their voices heard regarding the vital importance of fully securing our election system through a secure paper ballot system.
Germany, a Country of 80 million, Norway, Netherlands, France, and numerous other Countries already protect the integrity and trust of their elections with secure, publicly observable hand-counting of paper ballots. Louisiana has a population of 4.5 million. The suggestion that such a system cannot be effectively implemented in Louisiana defies both precedent and logic. This isn’t an issue of ability in our State, but one of will: will to save precious taxpayer resources while shoring up our election vulnerabilities.
The pendulum is swinging back in Louisiana as the weight of opinion moves toward an election system in which we can all have confidence: secure, serialized, hand-marked, publicly counted paper ballots. This is an issue we have the power and ability to get right, and one we cannot afford to get wrong. The passage of the Haik Resolution is a meaningful step forward.
J. Christopher Alexander
Louisiana Citizen Advocacy Group
www.lacag.org
