By Kylah Babin | LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE–The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 3-4 Wednesday against advancing a Democratic bill that would establish a “Louisiana Voting Rights Act.”
The bill’s author, Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, and two other Democratic senators voted to move the bill out of committee. Four Republican senators voted against the bill, Senate Bill 365, which would have prohibited state and local government entities from imposing or enforcing any election practice that could suppress minority voting.
Well over 100 people submitted green cards in support of the bill, along with over 70 emails sent to promote it passage, according to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen.
“We just ask for a fair opportunity because we know when we get that opportunity, we can succeed and we can perform,” Sen. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, said during his testimony for the bill.
None of the Republicans who voted against the bill made any comments at the hearing about why they opposed it.
Kleinpeter said in an interview that the Republicans are waiting to see what the U.S. Supreme Court rules about the federal voting rights act in deciding on a lawsuit, known as Louisiana v. Callais, over Louisiana’s congressional redistricting decisions.
“We are waiting on pending litigation,” Kleinpeter said during an interview.
Duplessis said he filed the bill to ensure the protection of all voters from all forms of discrimination, including stopping voter suppression, preventing unfair voting maps and allowing communities to readily defend their rights in Louisiana courts.
“This is a core value proposition,” Duplessis said. “Every Louisiana voter deserves a fair shot at the ballot box and an equal voice in their government.”
Duplessis and other Democrats said they believed Louisiana should have a voting rights act to ensure all voters are still protected regardless of the fate of the federal Voting Rights Act.
The committee also declined to advance a bill by Sen. Regina Barrow by the same 3-4 vote. Her bill, Senate Bill 342, would have clarified a contradiction in the law that prevents incarcerated first-time Louisiana voters from voting.
The current law states that first-time voters must vote in person if they are voting in a new parish. However, this prevents prisoners who are voting for the first time from exercising this right.
“This is an unintended consequence,” Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, said.
This is the second time that this legislation has tried to pass through a committee, according to Rep. Terry Landry Jr., D-Baton Rouge. The House bill that addressed this same contradiction was voted to be involuntarily deferred, killing the bill.
“But if you look at it, it’s always directly party lines, which is unfortunate,” Landry said during an interview, referring to the votes. “We’ve got to stop thinking about Republicans and Democrats and think about people.”
Republicans have not been shy about passing other voting bills this session, including a bill that would require state election officials to send all registered voters’ personal information to the federal government for scrutiny.
That bill passed the House floor on March 30 in a 74-29 vote that was mostly along party lines.
Republican lawmakers were also in favor of pushing back the midterm election dates for this year during the previous special session in anticipation of the decision from Louisiana v. Callais. That decision also raised concerns from Democratic voices regarding voter rights protections, especially for people of color.