[StBernard] State lawmakers weigh in on St. Bernard voting reports

[Westley Annis]

State lawmakers weigh in on St. Bernard voting reports

State lawmakers weigh in on voter displacement
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Print Story Published: 11/17 7:24 pm Share Updated: 11/17 11:06 pm 
After the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana state lawmakers
felt the urge to do something to help victims displaced by the storm. State
Representative Austin Badon says their answer was House Bill No. 587 -- the
Displaced Voter Act of 2006.


"It was a gubernatorially declared disaster and people were displaced all
over the entire nation so we had to do something to allow people to still
have some participation in the voting process that's why we had to pass that
legislation," said Representative Badon.

He said under that bill people living within the declared disaster area
could still live someplace else and come back to vote. "Unless you establish
residence in another parish or another part of the city, if you establish
residence or if you change your voting registration you could not vote,"
explained Badon.

Badon said watching the story unfold after the St. Bernard Parish election
that has raised questions about voters filing homestead exemptions outside
the parish, yet voting in the election was not what lawmakers intended.
"Right now what's going on is a complete disgrace it's voter fraud, they
know that they are not registered to vote there, should not be voting there,
they know they have an established residence somewhere else homestead
exemption somewhere else, so they are knowingly committing fraud," he said.

State Representative Jeffery Arnold was on the House Governmental Affairs
Committee when the act was passed.  He says it was passed for good reason --
but with all laws, there are unintended consequences.

"Here we have [accusations] of people who stayed registered in the parish,
so they can affect an outcome because of their particular jobs," Arnold told
us.  "That's the unintended consequence that may or may not happen, which
still has to be proven in a court of law with the objection filed by Mr.
Landry."

Representative Badon said he's also concerned that some of the races might
have been illegitimate if the accusations of fraudulent voting are true. 

"Right now you could have some elections that are decided by three, four,
five votes.  Those three, four, five votes could make the difference.  If
someone who lives in one parish decides to come back and vote in another
parish in that election, they are actually deciding the outcome of that
election and that's really unfair," he stated.

Arnold said lawmakers are partly responsible for this debacle. "In
retrospect, that's probably a mistake on the legislators part to not put a
deadline on it, but we didn't so therefore a judge would have to look at
whether or not that particular individual is planning on making St Bernard
their permanent residence at some point," he explained.

Arnold says legislators do an omnibus election bill every year.  He said he
is sure new legislation will be introduced that will put a time frame on the
displacement act as well as other amendments to give it clarity.

Overall, Arnold said he believes the voter fraud cases would probably have
to be looked at individually by a judge to determine legitimacy.

If the allegations are proven true Badon says the votes should be thrown
out, and the alleged illegal voters should lose a year of voting privileges.