Louisiana Hopeful to Finally Replace Antiquated Voting Machines

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The old joke goes something like this. Louisiana finally got new voting machines and sold their old ones to Nebraska. Nebraska just had their first election with those machines and it looks like Edwin Edwards will be their new Governor.

Yeah, our equipment is old. Some say Louisiana's arsenal of ten thousand voting machines are thirty years old. Just think about that for a minute. Thirty years old. That means some have been around since 1990. Just how many technical advances have been made in the past thirty years?

But, with the recent controversies about the Presidential and other races, are all those technical advances necessarily a good thing. Apparently, Secretary of State, Kyle Ardoin thinks so.

In an interview with the Louisiana Radio Network, Ardoin says the Office of State Procurement is now accepting bids from vendors who can supply the state with new voting equipment.

“I’m excited to begin this process of bringing the best voting technology to Louisiana in continuing our tradition of delivering safe, secure, accurate, and transparent elections.”

Ardoin adds that the new machines will provide a paper record. “This feature will also enhance the audits of the state election system thereby maintaining the accuracy of Louisiana elections.”

Of course, we've been this route before, in an attempt to replace the aged equipment. If was back in 2018

Louisiana attempted to select a contractor in 2018 under former Secretary of State Tom Schedler, but the Edwards administration voided the deal with Dominion Voting Systems, claiming the bidding process was unfair. Ardoin says in this new request for proposals, vendors who bid will be asked to disclose any foreign ownership, countries in which they operate, and board member names.

All bids are due by March 24th and according to Ardoin, if the process goes smoothly, the new voting machines could show up at your precinct in the spring of 2022.