Amite, La.— Tangipahoa Registrar of Voters Andi Matheu will meet with the Board of Election Supervisors to seal the early voting machines on Tuesday, 03/05/2024 at 10:00 AM. The board meeting will be held in the Registrar’s Amite office located at 110 N. 1st Street, Amite, LA 70422. As usual, these meetings are open to the public.

Once certified and sealed by the board, these machines will be used during Early Voting for the March election. Early Voting begins on Saturday, March 9 and continues through Saturday, March 16, from 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM (excluding Sunday 03/10). Be prepared by checking out your sample ballot ahead of time at www.GeauxVote.com .

For more information about elections and voting, contact your Registrar of Voters office by calling 985.748.3215, or sending an email, [email protected] . You may also visit our website www.TangiVotes.com for most of your election or registration inquiries.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Today, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin and District 28 State Representative Daryl Deshotel announced that they would pursue legislation in 2023 to ban TikTok on all state-owned devices.

 “TikTok is a clear and present danger to our national security and election integrity,” Representative Deshotel said. “TikTok is a Chinese company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The last thing we need to do is give them access to the data on our state devices. We have seen first-hand that foreign agents will go to any length necessary to gather important intelligence on the United States using social media applications and sophisticated data collection. This is a commonsense piece of legislation.”

“I am grateful to be teaming up with Representative Deshotel after his announcement that he would pre-file a bill to ban the Chinese-owned TikTok on state-issued devices. TikTok is a threat to our citizens’ personal data and has no business on any device owned by the State of Louisiana,” Ardoin said. “Representative Deshotel and I believe we should be doing everything we can to protect our constituents’ personally identifiable information. This bill will help do just that.”

Earlier this week, Secretary Ardoin announced that he was banning TikTok on Department of State-owned devices and wrote to Governor John Bel Edwards urging him to issue a ban on all state-owned devices.

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

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced today that he was banning TikTok on all Department of State-issued devices, and called on Governor John Bel Edwards to follow the lead of the governors of Alabama, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Maryland, Texas, Utah, and Virginia by banning its use on all state government-issued devices.

In a letter sent to Governor Edwards today, Secretary Ardoin said: “As Secretary of State, I have the serious responsibility of protecting voters’ personally identifiable information, which is why I have taken the step of banning the use of TikTok on all devices owned or leased by my agency. I wholeheartedly believe that doing so on a statewide level would protect our data and reaffirm our commitment to privacy protections for our constituents. Therefore, I urge you to issue a directive banning the use of TikTok on our state government’s devices with immediate effect.”

This move follows a vote by unanimous consent by the United States Senate to ban TikTok on US government devices, stemming from concerns over its data collection and ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

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

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.