BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin issued a statement on the sentencing of two former elected officials in Amite City convicted of violating federal election laws. Former Amite City Chief of Police Jerry Trabona and Amite City councilman Kristian Hart were each sentenced to one year in prison for conspiring to pay, or offering to pay, voters for voting in a federal election.

“Any case of election fraud is a grave matter. It can undermine our faith in the democratic process and deter citizens from voting. Alleged violations of state and federal election laws should always be thoroughly examined, and if needs be, prosecuted,” Ardoin stated. “The Department of State’s Elections Compliance Unit investigators provided records and support to federal authorities throughout the course of this investigation and eventual prosecution. In 2021, the unit, along with our partners from the Louisiana Department of Justice, also helped bring charges against former Amite City Mayor Pro Tempore and councilman Emmanuel Zanders III. I am incredibly proud of the work done by the Elections Compliance Unit in bringing all the facts of these cases to light.”

Two additional Louisianians, Calvin Batiste and Louis Ruffino, are expected to be sentenced for their involvement in the vote-buying conspiracy in the near future.

For more information about the Secretary of State’s Elections Division, visit www.GeauxVote.com or call 225.922.0900. To report suspected cases of election fraud or violations of the election code, contact the Election Fraud Hotline at 1.800.722.5305.

To view or download the official press release, click here. 

BATON ROUGE, La. — Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin will hold a press conference Thursday, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. at Louisiana’s Old State Capitol to discuss Constitutional Amendment No. 1 on the ballot for the Dec. 10 election. Secretary Ardoin will be joined by state Senator Beth Mizell, along with Christopher Arps, President of Americans for Citizen Voting.

“As Secretary of State, it is my job to ensure that our elections remain secure, accurate and transparent. That includes protecting and preserving the right to vote for American citizens. Currently, there is the potential to exploit language in our state constitution that could allow municipalities to extend the sacred right to vote to noncitizens. That doesn’t sit right with me, so I worked alongside Rep. Debbie Villio and Senator Beth Mizell during the most recent legislative session to craft language that makes it clear that only American citizens can vote in Louisiana’s elections,” Ardoin said.

Constitutional Amendment No. 1 was placed on the ballot after passage of HB 178 by Rep. Debbie Villio during the 2022 Regular Legislative Session. HB 178 had 40 co-authors and passed with a bipartisan two-thirds majority in the Louisiana House of Representatives, and a nearly-unanimous vote in the Louisiana Senate.

Louisiana’s Old State Capitol is located at 100 North Blvd. in downtown Baton Rouge and is under direction of the Louisiana Department of State.

To view or download the official press release, click here.

Amite, La.— Tangipahoa Registrar of Voters Andi Matheu would like to remind everyone that the early voting period for the December 10, 2022 election begins, Saturday, 11/26/2022 through Saturday, 12/03/2022 (excluding Sunday) from 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM each day.

Don’t forget to check your ballot ahead of time before you go to the polls to verify your ballot and districts. Visit www.TangiVotes.com to see yours. 

The Registrar’s office plans to have the mail ballots out by Friday, 11/25/2022. If you receive a mail ballot, your deadline to return it to the Registrar of Voters office is 4:30 PM on Friday, 12/09/2022. 

You can view or download the official press release here and the sample ballot here. 

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin issued the following statement on Tuesday’s elections:

“I am proud of and grateful for the hard work done by our Department of State staff, Clerks of Court and their staff, Registrars of Voters and their staff, and the thousands of election workers across the state to deliver another successful election to the people of Louisiana. Over 1.3 million voters made their voices heard in Tuesday’s election, with all unofficial results being uploaded less than five hours after polls closed. We had no reports of major issues across the state, and we were able to work with our law enforcement partners to resolve a threat at a polling place in Kenner by quickly disseminating accurate and appropriate information and, working with the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court, expeditiously moving the polling site to a nearby location. Also, our office was able to quickly resolve an issue which caused our Geaux Vote mobile app and voter portal to work slower than usual due to the high volume of visitors to our site. Yesterday’s election shows why Louisiana is given high marks by national organizations for election integrity and administration, and why the Louisiana Legislative Auditor praised our procedures. Despite what some may wrongly say about Louisiana’s elections, they are and will continue to be safe, secure, transparent and accurate, thanks to the policies our office has put in place.”

To view or download the official press release, click here.

BATON ROUGE, La. —Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s office will test its electronic election results system ahead of the upcoming Nov. 8 election on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. During the test period, mock results will be displayed on the secretary of state’s website. These election results are only for testing purposes and do not reflect any actual results.

Media outlets are strongly urged to test their election night broadcast systems, graphics and websites in conjunction with our testing so that any technical issues can be identified and remedied with assistance from the Secretary of State’s IT staff prior to election night. In an effort to prevent any confusion, we urge outlets to put banners on their websites showing their readers/viewers that the results are only test results and not official.

CREDENTIALED MEDIA ONLY

In preparation for election night, credentialed media outlets may reserve a limited number of seats at the Secretary of State’s office on election night. If any issues are encountered, to sign up for the XML feed or to reserve a seat please contact Kaylee Trisler in the Communications Office at 225.362.5086 or [email protected].

Finally, the Communications Office for Election Day will be staffed by Deputy Secretary, Communications John W. Tobler, and Public Information Officer Kaylee Trisler. Mr. Tobler can be reached at 225.362.5111 (office) or [email protected]. Mrs. Trisler can be reached at the information listed above.

To view or download the official press release, click here.