A judge voided the result of a Louisiana sheriff’s election that was decided by a single vote and ordered a new runoff be held, saying early last month that there is evidence that illegally cast ballots may have changed the results from the Republican candidate to the Democratic candidate.
Just before Christmas, an appeals court upheld the order and ruled that evidence of voter fraud was “sufficient to make it legally impossible to determine the result of the election.”
Ruling in early December, specially appointed Judge E. Joseph Bleich ordered a new election for sheriff in Caddo Parish, one of Louisiana’s most populous parishes, in the northwest corner of the state.
Democrat Henry Whitehorn had been declared the winner in November after topping Republican John Nickelson by the slimmest of margins, from more than 43,000 ballots cast. A recount produced the same result — a one-vote edge for Whitehorn.
It also uncovered something troubling: illegal votes well within the margin to alter the results.
Bleich said in his ruling that it was “proven beyond any doubt” that there were at least 11 “illegal votes cast” and potentially even more — making it “legally impossible to know what the true vote should have been.”
Bleich said at least five absentee mail-in ballots were uncovered that were missing a required witness signature and should not have been counted.
In addition, at least two people voted twice and four votes were cast by unqualified people, such as individuals incarcerated for a felony conviction, Mike Spence, the Caddo Parish clerk of court, confirmed to The Associated Press following the recount.
In a 3-2 ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in Shreveport, Louisiana, upheld the order for a new election.
The majority, additionally, found no error in the lower court judge’s determination that Nickelson could not have known about the problematic votes before election day.
“Considering the one-vote margin between the candidates, the invalidation of these six votes is alone sufficient to make it legally impossible to determine the result of the election,” Judge Jeff Robinson wrote for the majority.
It is the country’s second election this year in which a judge has voided the result, after a judge last month ordered a redo of a Democratic mayoral primary in Connecticut’s largest city due to video evidence of ballot stuffing, a case that fueled conspiracy theories pushed on social media.
The topic of election integrity has also been at the forefront of national politics after former President Donald Trump’s controversial claims about the 2020 presidential election.
The one-vote margin in the Caddo Parish sheriff’s race also put a spotlight on Louisiana’s recount process. It is the only state that continues to use paperless touchscreen voting machines, which do not produce an auditable paper trail that experts say is critical to ensure results are accurate.
Louisiana’s mail-in absentee ballots currently constitute the state’s lone auditable paper trail that can be tallied again and checked for errors. Absentee ballots accounted for about 17% of the vote in the Caddo Parish race.
Election officials including Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin have reiterated that the state’s elections are secure and there are checks and balances to ensure voting integrity.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article