Pass HB286

Okay, let’s explain this very simply so that the Republican leadership in the Louisiana legislature can understand. If an American citizen cannot access a polling place to vote, he or she has been robbed of their sacred constitutional franchise. By definition, that person is not a citizen if they cannot have the opportunity to cast a ballot, but a slave.

HB 286 seeks, in part, to address this problem by expanding early voting days. The GOP leadership, however, continues to block the bill on the legislative floor. This occurs even as senior Republicans admit that the number of voting places in the state has dramatically decreased in recent years. One report showed that Louisiana closed 126 polling places between 2012 to 2018. Research by Campaign Legal Center (CLC) shows that in Louisiana’s largest parishes, the number of polling places has declined in every national election since 2012, while the population of Black voters has increased.

For example, according to data from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office, Jefferson Parish saw an 8.7 percent increase of Black registered voters between November 2012 (69,013 voters) and November 2020 (75,045 voters). The overall African-American population in Jefferson Parish also increased from 116,168 residents in 2012 to 117,314 residents in 2020, a rate of about one percent, according to Census estimates. Despite the jump in Black residents and Black voters, Jefferson Parish lost an estimated 26 Election Day polling places between 2012 and 2020, a decrease of 15 percent.

Much of this polling station decrease has occurred in African-American neighborhoods. At the current rate of decline, there will be 3/5 the number of polling places in predominantly minority communities as there are precincts and predominantly conservative Caucasian neighborhoods in 10 years. That statistic too closely resembles a one-time clause in the United States Constitution. “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”

The 14th amendment was supposed to supplant article 1, section 2, clause 3. However, if a person doesn’t have a place to vote, or an opportunity to vote, they have been robbed of their vote just as equally as if they were denied by involuntary servitude. Rep. Frederick Jones (D-Monroe) seeks to address this problem. His proposed legislation, HB286, would allow parishes to extend early voting from seven days to 14 days prior to any scheduled elections and to 18 days prior to the presidential elections. It’s a modest change, which should be uncontroversial. By providing more days to vote, people who work long hours or unusual schedules would have more opportunities to vote. Yet, any form of enfranchisement could threaten GOP dominance, and that cannot be allowed.

This article originally published in the May 31, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.