Louisiana’s secretary of state has pulled the plug on a request-for-proposal (RFP) process to choose a new voting machine vendor and upgrade the state’s aging elections technology, citing misinformation that has hurt voter confidence in the system.
Zanders
An Amite city councilman was arrested on multiple counts of election fraud earlier this month in conjunction with an investigation carried out by the Louisiana attorney general and secretary of state.
District 3 Councilman Emanuel Zanders III is accused of eight counts of violating state law by submitting voter registration applications that he knew to be false or fraudulent, according to Attorney General Jeff Landry’s Office.
Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said the arrest is not an indication that widespread voter fraud was carried out during the 2020 elections.
“Election integrity matters, and last week’s arrest proves that while election fraud is rare, the multi-level processes and procedures of our elections work,” Ardoin said in an email to the Louisiana Record. He added that the arrest should serve as a warning to others who might be thinking about violating the state’s election laws.