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Current Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin is under attack by the Louisiana Democratic Party that is charging Louisiana’s elections are vulnerable to election fraud.
The party ‘s recent statement reads: “Louisiana is one of the most vulnerable states for election interference in the nation because Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has failed to address cyber security issues and has kept our out-dated voting machines at risk.”
Is there any truth to such charges? I write with some knowledge of the voting system here in the Bayou Sate having served as secretary of state for eight years.
I have found little merit to such accusations. The current system works as well as any other state in the nation.
These “outdated” voting machines that so upset the state democratic party are actually less prone to a cyber-attack than the new systems that are used in many other states, since the Louisiana machines are not hooked up to the internet.
Rarely does an election take place down in the deepest of the deep southern states without allegations of some type of voter fraud.
To this day, former Lt. Gov. and gubernatorial candidate Jimmy Fitzmorris still sulks that his 1979 defeat in the governor’s race was caused by voter fraud.
Republican Woody Jenkins still claims that his 1996 bid to defeat Sen. Mary Landrieu was caused by a massive vote buying effort, particularly in New Orleans.
Vote buying and election fraud are, for all practical purposes, a thing of the past in Louisiana, although an occasional complaint is filed in local elections.
But in days gone by, there were a number of creative ways to “stack” an election.
Down in Plaquemines Parish below New Orleans, folks still remember the days of political boss Leander Perez, when there were often more votes cast then there were voters in the parish.
It used to be much tougher to absentee vote, with the average parish voting 5 to 10% absentee.
When 40% of a parish voted before Election Day, you knew something was fishy.
A local sheriff, or other official so inclined, would have his deputies haul voters into the courthouse.
He would send in the first voter with a blank sheet of paper shaped like an absentee voter’s ballot.
The voter was told to put the blank paper in the ballot box, then bring back the official but unmarked ballot.
For this effort, the first and subsequent voters were paid the going rate, generally $10 to $20.
The next voter would go to the clerk’s office with an official ballot that was pre-checked by the person buying the votes. The voter took the marked ballot into the clerk’s office, and was given an unmarked ballot.
The voter put his marked ballot in the ballot box, then brought his unmarked ballot back to receive his money.
So with only one initial ballot, someone so disposed could run voters in and out of the clerk’s office day after day while absentee voting was taking place, pay them the going rate, and pile up votes for the favored candidates.
Another way to garner votes was to station a “helper” in the voting precinct to aid any voter who asked for assistance.
Many less informed voters would say they needed aid and the “helper” was allowed in the voting booth with the voter.
I remember back in one of my early races that a “helper” bragged to me after the election that I had received 217 votes out of 220 that were cast in a precinct where he was well known and who “helped” everyone that came in to vote.
He had a big grin when he told me how he had assisted my campaign.
My response: “What happened to the other three?”
The days of blatant and widespread voter fraud has been greatly curtailed, although not eliminated.
The message to both Democratic and Republican party officials to keep a close eye on the election process.
Former Gov. Earl Long summed it up pretty well with two of his more memorable quotations: The first was “I can make them voting machines sing Home Sweet Home.” Since he controlled the election process back then, he probably could.
But his most endearing quote rang home to many Bayou State politicians. Uncle Earl’s remark was: “When I die, I want to be buried in Louisiana, so that I can stay active in politics.”
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all of his columns at www.jimbrownusa.com.

Louisiana has seen an invasion.
Apple snails, native to South America, are in our local waterways, causing agricultural and ecological damage.
“The problem [with apple snails] as with any invasive species, [they] will overpopulate and steal resources away from native species, disrupting natural ecological processes,” according to the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program at Nicholls State University. “They consume large quantities of plant material, damaging important habitat for native fish and wildlife.”
Apple snails were first found in Louisiana back in 2006. A drainage canal in the back of a subdivision in Gretna was the first location reported, but they have since been found in multiple waterways, including Bayou Teche.
According to Susan Williams, whose home is located on the Teche in Calumet, the snails can be seen all over in the waterway. Williams said children are playing with them, not realizing they are a threat that needs to be eradicated.
The snails are golden-yellow to dark brown in color and their shells are heavy. They can grow up to six inches across, but are more frequently seen in the two to four inches range.
The most visible sign of the invasion are the snail’s eggs. The eggs are bright pink and are laid in clumps of 200-600 tiny eggs attached to a tree stump, piling or any other object just above the waterline.
Multiple residents have reported seeing the bright pink clusters in the marshes, in Lake Palourde, in the Spillway, and many bayous and other waterways.
Apple snails also pose a threat to human health. According to the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, “If eaten raw, they can transmit a deadly parasite called rat lungworm to humans and other mammals.”
If the snail is infected with the roundworm parasite named Angiostrongylus cantonensis and is ingested raw by a human or other mammal, they can become infected.
Rat lungworm disease affects the brain and spinal cord and symptoms can include severe headache, stiffness of the neck, tingling or painful feelings in the skin or extremities, low-grade fever, nausea, and vomiting. Sometimes symptoms can be severe, causing a temporary paralysis of the face as well as light sensitivity.
Unfortunately, there is no pesticide to selectively eliminate the snails. The only way to combat them is to hand remove the bright pink egg masses, effectively reducing their numbers. Egg masses can simply be scraped off the structures and allowed to fall into the water where they become inundated with water and become infertile.
There is no risk of illness from touching the egg masses or the shells, but it is suggested to wear gloves or other protective equipment if the eggs are scraped off.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is asking for the public’s help in combating these intruders. If apple snails or their eggs are seen, they are asking that the location be noted and reported to: Bobby Reed, Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator, 225-765-3977 or email at breed@wlf.la.gov.

Hand-crafted is popular these days, and many home decorators are looking for unique textiles and other furnishings that feature the look of hand-drawn art — items like the eclectic, playful wallpapers of Brooklyn-based artist Aimee Wilder, who designed for brands like DwellStudio, Martha Stewart and Vans before starting her own studio. She’s expanded the line beyond wallpaper to include rugs, pillows, fabrics and poufs, and collaborates with prominent design brands on showroom design and installations.
“I’ve been making graphic pieces since the early 2000s and I knew I wanted my own brand way back then,” Wilder recalls. “I just knew that my work was a good fit for home textiles, maybe filling a hole, since back then most interior stuff was pretty traditional or more globally inspired.”
In her Eudaimonia collection, named after a Greek word meaning happiness, she was interested in exploring how celestial bodies influence us. The moon’s phases are rendered in pastels and neutrals in the Earthlight pattern, while Pyramid du Soleil is named after Mexico’s Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan.
Fantastic sea creatures make their way to and fro across her Mystic Lagoon wallpaper, an idea that came out of a trek through the Scottish Highlands. A trip to Indonesia was the jumping-off point for Bungalow, with exotic fruits and flora. And a line drawing Wilder received as a gift while collaborating with Los Angeles surf brand Mowgli Surf inspired her jaunty Swell wave print.
Another artist, Anna Bond of Winter Park, Florida, co-founded Rifle Paper Co., known for floral illustrations on stationery, wallpaper, home decor and fashion accessories. Bond’s made a series of gouache paintings of destinations around the U.S., including Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
Betsy Olmsted had planned to become a naturalist, but after majoring in art, studying in India, and getting a master’s degree in textile design, she translated that early passion for living things into a career as a designer with her own studio in Saratoga Springs, New York.
In her lighthearted watercolor, gouache and ink drawings, a menagerie of foxes, hedgehogs, turkeys and other woodland creatures share the canvas with smatterings of flowers and leaves. She sells table linens, pillows, wallpaper and fabric by the yard.
One of her unusual wallpaper patterns: Curio, on which glass cloches hold beautifully rendered mushrooms, coral, antlers and moths, all surrounded by fungi and flora detailed with a delicate touch. It resembles a naturalist’s notebook writ large, and one can imagine it in a nursery.
The founders of The Farmhouse Project, artists Shawn Lang and Kris Prepelica in Hortonville, New York, create detailed drawings of vegetables and botanicals, which are printed on stonewashed linen table goods. The napery has an authentic, historical charm that’s right on trend.
Fishs Eddy also offers dishtowels illustrated with pen and ink drawings, here of New York City bridges and tunnels.
And Brooklyn artist Claudia Pearson, whose work has appeared in children’s books and The New Yorker, has done a collection of tea towels available at West Elm that feature her quirky take on maps of cities all over the country.

The left lane of U.S. 90 eastbound and westbound on the Atchafalaya River Bridge from Berwick to Morgan City will be closed 7 a.m.-6 p.m.daily until Oct. 5, weather permitting.

This closure is necessary to allow crews to install cables and perform concrete repairs.

Emergency vehicles will have full access through the area.

DOTD appreciates your patience and reminds you to please drive with caution and be on the lookout for work crews and their equipment.