BATON ROUGE, La.—Gov. John Bel Edwards on April 14 again delayed Louisianas presidential primary because of the CCP virus—this time to July 11—as the states chief elections officer asked lawmakers to expand mail-in balloting and early voting.
The primary originally had been scheduled for April 4. Edwards has pushed back the election twice at the request of Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin as Louisiana continues to grapple with the virus outbreak, which has hit the state especially hard.
In the past month, more than a dozen states have postponed their primaries to give them time to adjust and plan. Louisianas primary initially was postponed until June 20, before being pushed back an extra three weeks to July, making it one of the last states on the current primary calendar.
Ardoin, a Republican, also is asking lawmakers to approve emergency procedures for the election, according to GOP Rep. Stephen Dwight, who chairs the House and Governmental Affairs Committee that oversees elections issues. The secretary of state wants to expand early voting from one week to two weeks, allow mail-in ballots for people who have exhibited symptoms of the virus and change some precinct locations, Dwight said.
The House and Senate elections oversight committees have meetings scheduled Wednesday to consider the request. Ardoins spokesman did not return a call for comment Tuesday or provide advance information about what hes seeking from lawmakers.
Dwight said the most contentious portion of Ardoins emergency request centers on the mail-in ballots, which would expand an absentee balloting procedure currently in place for members of the military, overseas voters and people with certain medical conditions. Conservative Republicans oppose the expRead More From Source
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