Also on the October 14th ballot are four constitutional amendments. Steven Procopio, President of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana said a vote for Amendment 1 would ban the use of financial or other donations from a nongovernmental or foreign source to administer elections.
“This really comes from the 2020 election cycle, when an organization, for example, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, offered grants to states and municipalities for the elections during COVID. A lot of people had very big problems with that,” said Procopio.
Procopio said at least twice the lawmakers passed legislation against it, but it was vetoed by Governor Edwards. Procopio said Amendment 1 is another attempt to solidify that those types of organizations cannot donate to help administer elections.
“The election system is very important, so you want to make sure it’s above board. I think that’s the sort of thing the proponents are looking at,” said Procopio.
The concern is that the organization might try to influence an election by encouraging some voters to turn out more or even less. But Procopio said opponents argue the state only has so many dollars when it comes to elections.
“And there are a lot of good organizations out there trying to help people register and vote. And the other argument is whether or not this actually needed to be a constitutional amendment. That’s sort of the two big arguments against it,” said Procopio.
Early voting begins Saturday.
For PAR’s guide on the Constitutional Amendments click here.
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