Following the Supreme Court's recent gerrymandering ruling, Louisiana's governor put the state's primary elections on hold, even though tens of thousands of people had already voted. He now plans to discard those votes entirely. In a Sunday appearance on "60 Minutes," Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, was asked to explain what would become of the approximately 45,000 ballots submitted before the Court's decision came down.
“This country has held elections during the Civil War, during two world wars; elections still went on,” 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega said, HuffPost reports.
“We’ll have an election, and we’re actually gonna have an election on election day,” Landry said.
“But voting was already happening,” Vega said. “As we sit here right now, more than 45,000 ballots have been returned. What happens to those?”
“Oh, those ballots are discarded,” Landry said. “And those people will vote again in November.”
“You say that like it’s not a big deal,” Vega said.
“Well, it’s not a big deal,” Landry replied. “It’s not my fault. If anyone has a grievance, take it to the United States Supreme Court.”
“This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map,” Landry added.
That's cute because the voters who went to the trouble of early/absentee voting (especially the elderly, disabled, military, etc.) had their ballots tossed out, so I'm sure they think it's a "big deal." That's frustrating and erodes trust. Voting had already begun, so it affected people who acted in good faith.
It's just another form of GOP voting suppression on steroids, especially since it impacts a map with a second Black-majority district. Lawsuits have been filed challenging the suspension. Landry saying "those people will vote in November" means their primary votes are nullified with no recourse. Their votes are tossed out, nullified.
Landry's casual "it's not a big deal... not my fault" on 60 Minutes didn't help optics as Southern states are champing at the bit to void Black votes. Fuck you, John Roberts, for playing a central role in this shitshow. And Landry can eat a whole bag of dicks. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
