Jeff Landry brushes off concerns over 45,000 discarded ballots
Gov. Jeff Landry said he agrees with the Supreme Court decision that struck down Louisiana’s congressional maps as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, arguing states can’t claim equal treatment under law while allowing race-based districting. In a 60 Minutes interview, he defended his choice to suspend Louisiana’s House primaries after the ruling, contending ther is no valid map for voters under which they can choose candidates. Landry also said early voting ballots that had already been returned would be discarded so voters could vote again. His action affected only the five House primaries, while other contests-such as the primary for Sen. Bill cassidy’s seat-were still scheduled to proceed.
Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) brushed off criticisms over how his suspension of primary elections had rendered thousands of ballots null, after the Supreme Court struck down the state’s maps.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Landry elaborated on his decision to suspend Louisiana’s primaries, following a Supreme Court ruling that held the state’s creation of a second minority-majority district in compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. He voiced his agreement with the decision.
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“You cannot say that we are all created equal, and that states must treat everyone equal under the law, and then allow a law to sort people based upon race,” he said.
Landry suspended the state’s House primaries by declaring a state of emergency, following the Supreme Court ruling. When asked what the emergency was, the governor pointed to the ruling.
“We’ve got the highest court in the land says the map that you have is unconstitutional. So, we don’t have a map under which our voters can vote on,” he replied.
When asked what would happen to the 45,000 early voting ballots that have already been returned, Landry said they would be discarded, and then voters would be able to cast them again. When confronted by criticisms from voting rights groups, he explained that the fault didn’t lie with him.
WHERE DO THINGS STAND WITH LOUISIANA’S PRIMARIES?
“It’s not my fault. If anybody has a grievance, take it to the United States Supreme Court,” he said.
Landry’s suspension of the primaries only applied to the five House primaries — other state primaries, such as the contentious primary for Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) seat, will go ahead on Saturday.
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