JBE does not support emergency election plan

Gov. John Bel Edwards said he does not support Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s emergency election plan, calling it “woefully inadequate.”
Edwards, who signed an order Tuesday declaring an emergency exists for the November and December elections, said that unless the secretary of state revamps his plan, any emergency plan implemented in Louisiana “will likely have to come from the courts.”
The governor said that his concerns with the plan are that it:
—Doesn’t factor in the severity of the pandemic and voters’ health and safety.
—It doesn’t use appropriate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidance on key aspects.
—It provides no absentee mail-in voting options for those at a high risk of catching COVID-19 or those taking care of them.
“In fact, there’s not even consideration given to those people who have been told to quarantine because they’ve been in close contact with someone who’s been positively diagnosed as having COVID and they’ve been told don’t leave your house for 14 days,” Edwards said. “They’re not eligible to request an absentee ballot.”
Edwards said he doesn’t understand why the state’s plan isn’t as strong as the one used in earlier elections this year during the pandemic when there is more COVID in the state now than there was earlier this year.
“We need to find a solution that works for the public health of our people and also for the health of our democracy,” Edwards said in a news release. “We had an election plan for the past two smaller elections that worked by expanding early voting but also allowing for an expansion of absentee mail in voting. That we wouldn’t continue this for November’s election — the highest profile one of the year — makes absolutely zero sense to me.”
Any plan submitted by Ardoin has to receive both the governor and the legislature’s approval.
Ardoin told Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ in a statement that he would not be changing the plan.
“The plan the governor prefers was developed under a stay-at-home-order; our state is currently in Phase Two,” Ardoin said in his statement. “I negotiated the best possible plan that could pass the legislative committees, and if this issue must be resolved in the courts, I hope any ruling would include the critical mechanisms our office needs to administer the election.”