Louisiana Politricks Almost Silenced NOLA Voters

Yesterday, I woke up to the news that 11 voting locations in New Orleans may not have power on Election Day. This was due to Hurricane Zeta hitting our state and Mayor Cantrell of New Orleans calling out our Secretary of State, Kyle Adrion, for failing to provide backup power to these 11 polling sites after Hurricane Zeta knocked out power. As you know, it can take weeks to get the power back on when hurricanes devastate a city. During Laura, many were told their power would be off for over a month.

Tomorrow is Election Day, and yes, the power is still out in many places across the Gulf Coast — where Hurricane Zeta struck. In my last article about the storms here, I posed a question that I hoped wouldn’t have to be answered. What will happen if a major hurricane hits right around Election Day and knocks out the power needed at the polling stations?

This could happen if Secretary Ardoin doesn’t keep his promise. I live in Baton Rouge and have power. However, this is another matter for all Americans to consider and care about. If we have a crisis that keeps people from being able to vote, it’s a major concern. Hopefully New Orleans will have those generators, and the news today was a bit brighter.

Nola.com reported that the New Orleans polling stations that need the generators will now get them by Election Day — tomorrow. The article also mentioned the Mayor of New Orleans and Helena Moreno, Vice-President of the New Orleans City Council and First Division Councilmember-at-Large, calling out our Republican Secretary of State for not following through on his promise to make sure the polling sites have generators.

Some may call it a political tit-for-tat, but New Orleans, a mostly democratic city in a red state, needs to be able to have its votes count, especially when the majority of the Republicans are members of the Trump cult.

The “Spat”

NOLA.com reported that Mayor Cantrell accused the official in charge, Secretary Ardoin, who oversees the election, of failing Governor Edwards’ promise that the polling locations would have power for Election Day. Governor Edwards said in his statement that the polling locations were identified and that power would be routed to those stations first to make sure they are open on November 3.

Mayor Cantrell said that Louisiana’s Secretary of State, Kyle Ardoin, “risks disenfranchising Orleans voters and threatens to suppress the vote” if he doesn’t provide generator power to the polling sites. Instead of doing his job, Ardoin accused Cantrell as well as Helena Moreno of “trying to score cheap political points instead of being part of any solution.” He also promised that there would be power at the polling sites.

Solutions, Not Politricks, Are Needed

New Orleans is without power and just got hit by a hurricane. Our secretary of state is hurling insults and making senseless claims about political points while voters are worried about whether or not they will be able to vote in the election. I find this incredibly alarming that during one of the most volatile election periods, people may not be able to vote due to a natural disaster hitting and our secretary of state, who is a Republican, making it a concern whether these polling sites are open.

Voters should be angry. Last year, Ardoin spoke in favor of President Trump at a public rally where Trump showed up to support Eddie Rispone for governor — a position that Rispone lost. He also faced questions when our state’s online voter registration portal went offline on National Voter Registration Day. He claimed this was due to maintenance.

When Hurricane Zeta made landfall in Louisiana at the end of last month, it caused widespread power outages, and as of today, Entergy hasn’t completely restored power. Also, my power went off last week and I suspect that was due to a cyberattack, especially since I was unable to report the outage as one would normally do and due to reports of cyberattacks across the country. Entergy’s reporting system was down, then they kept hanging up on me, and then I even got a “we are closed” recording.

The Election should end on November 3rd., not weeks later!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2020

The President of the United States said that the election should end on November 3rd, not weeks later. This could be taken to mean that he doesn’t want voters to be counted after November 3rd is over with, particularly in states where mail-in votes would be counted later and are likely to favor Democrats. This is unprecedented in American politics.

Oddly, my birthday is November 4th, and the only thing I want is a president who won’t destroy democracy. The fact that Republicans would rather be petty and accuse the mayor of New Orleans of trying to score points when she simply called him out for not having electricity at polling places just goes to show that our votes really do count. They don’t want you to vote.

If you haven’t voted yet, please do so!