Progress in the press
Daily Kos: Conspiracy theorists push Louisiana referendum to ban private election funding
By: Jeff Singer
Louisiana will become the first state in the nation to let voters weigh in on a proposal to ban private funding for elections this fall, an effort that comes after years of conservative conspiracy theories about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's role in the 2020 presidential election. No one has released any polls of the Oct. 14 contest over Amendment 1, which will take place the same day that the Pelican State holds its all-party primary for governor, but a prominent local voting rights advocate tells Bolts' Alex Burness he's pessimistic about opponents' chances.
Bolts Mag: Louisiana First in the Nation to Vote on Banning Private Elections Funding
By: Alex Burness
Louisiana’s Ascension Parish stores its voting machines in a warehouse without climate control, says Bridget Hanna, the parish’s elected clerk of court and top elections official. This worries her on days like these, when temperatures routinely hit 100 degrees, compounded by extreme humidity.
Louisiana’s voting machines are from 2006—old enough that when they falter, Hanna says, it’s often impossible to locate replacement parts. That’s a common frustration: aging voting equipment poses a projected multi-billion-dollar concern in the United States, amid a general national crisis of underfunding for local election administration.
LA Illuminator: Ardoin’s package of election bills includes twice-rejected proposals
By: Wesley Muller
Louisiana Republicans will try for the third year in a row to enact new election laws, including two that Gov. John Bel Edwards previously blocked.
Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin previewed his legislative package for the 2023 regular session, which begins Monday. The bills would provide “election integrity” for Louisiana, according to Ardoin.
WWNO: ‘It’s basically a race’: 3 courts consider future of Louisiana’s congressional districts
By: Wesley Muller
The legal battle to determine the boundaries of Louisiana’s congressional districts is now taking place simultaneously at all three levels of the federal judiciary, and the parties involved are fighting on multiple fronts. The decision comes down to whether Black voters will hold a majority in one or two of the state’s six U.S. House districts.
As a federal judge in Baton Rouge prepares to draw her version of a map that will feature two majority-Black districts, an appellate court panel contemplates her ruling to reject a single-Black district map that Republican lawmakers approved in February. Meanwhile, GOP state leaders have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the district judge’s original decision.
