LA Sheriff’s Election Must Be Held Again

A local sheriff’s election in Louisiana must be held again after the state Supreme Court last week upheld a decision from a lower court that ruled voter fraud took place in the original election.

In the race for Caddo Parish sheriff last November, Henry Whitehorn (D) beat John Nickelson (R) by only one vote. A recount found three more votes for both candidates, which resulted in the Democrat being named the winner.

Yet, Nickelson challenged that ruling, saying “The count was done too quickly and could not be accurate.”

Judge Joe Bleich took up the case and ruled that illegal votes were cast in the election, which meant that the election must be held again. In his ruling, Bleich highlighted that two people voted twice, five mail-in ballots didn’t comply with state law and four other votes shouldn’t have been counted because the people who cast them weren’t qualified to vote.

Whitehorn appealed that decision to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal, which ultimately affirmed the lower court’s decision. Whitehorn appealed again to the state Supreme Court, but the justices declined to hear the case.

As such, the new election has to proceed.

“When a court is presented with proven errors, even when no candidate is responsible for those errors, it is compelled to act and uphold our Election Code,” Justice Scott Crichton of the appeals court wrote in his ruling. “In this case, a new election will ensure confidence in the final outcome.”

Local ABC affiliate KTBS3 reported that the new election is expected to be held March 23.
This marks the second prominent case of voter fraud that will result in a new election being held.

In Connecticut, a new primary election for mayor of Bridgeport was ordered by a state superior court after incidents of voter fraud were found with some absentee ballots.

Surveillance footage that was released following the election allegedly shows ballot box stuffing being done by an employee of the city who was affiliated with the campaign of Joe Ganim, the incumbent mayor.

That is pertinent as Ganim won the election by 251 votes, but only surpassed his challenger John Gomes after all absentee ballots were counted.