A Hard Shot Across the Bow: Is Louisiana’s Voting System Unconstitutional?

Guest post by Joe Hoft at JoeHoft.com – republished with permission

By J. Christopher Alexander

Louisiana Constitution Article XI, Section 2 explicitly requires that “Ballots shall be counted publicly and preserved inviolate as provided by law until any election contests have been settled…” (Emphasis added).

A recent State District lawsuit filed by a veteran state election official alleges that Louisiana’s voting system is facially unconstitutional because the State uses a purely machine-based voting apparatus called Direct Recording Equipment (DRE) to count the overwhelming majority of votes cast. (Scanlan-Callais-Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief v Landry and Hadskey[9278].pdf)

It is impossible to “publicly” count these votes, or to “preserve” them “inviolate” pending any challenges to the count because they are counted inside of a machine using proprietary recording software that only the machine manufacturer may access.

Apart from the sheer lunacy of shielding from full public audit, the electronic mechanism by which a fundamental public right is secured (WHY is this allowed?), Louisiana’s current system is ripe for a constitutional challenge under the plain language of Article XI Sec 2: votes that are tabulated inside of a black box, beyond the view of the public, and not subject to independent audit, are clearly not “counted publicly” nor “preserved inviolate.” To suggest otherwise is beyond ludicrous.

The vote count transparency mandated by Article XI, Sec. 2 assumes even greater practical importance, considering the uniform opinion of forensic experts that electronic voting machines can be remotely hacked without election officials even being aware of it. Renowned cybersecurity expert Alex Halderman was crystal clear in his Louisiana testimony– in the presence of the current Louisiana Secretary of State- that machines are “a major security challenge because if they are hacked, they can misprint or alter votes.” (And NO, the machines do not have to be connected to the internet to be hacked).

Under Louisiana’s current system, there is simply no way to determine whether such cyber fraud has occurred or to what extent because it is all done under cover of darkness that nobody is allowed to penetrate except the potential bad actors.

The Louisiana Constitution secures for the citizens of our State many inalienable rights and protections against tyranny: the right of privacy, the right of free speech, the right of worship, to name a few. Who would have predicted a year ago that Article XI, Section 2 would emerge as an equally vital constitutional safeguard? If this mandate is interpreted according to its plain words, and the court simply applies the law correctly and holds the Louisiana Secretary of State to this most important constitutional mandate, the days of proprietary, black box voting machines accessible only to those who operate under a cloak of impenetrable secrecy may soon be a relic of the past in Louisiana. In its place? Secure, serialized, counterfeit proof hand-marked paper ballots, publicly counted on the precinct level. This is what every reputable cyber security expert in the world supports as well as Elon Musk, Donald

Trump, and many others. And it is the only system that can satisfy the clear mandates of the Louisiana Constitution.

As Pope said, “Hope springs eternal.”

J. Christopher Alexander Louisiana Citizen Advocacy Group