Gov. Jeff Landry signs executive order to protect "election integrity"
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Louisiana's Office of Motor Vehicles now must share names of non-citizens and non-permanent residents with the Secretary of State's Office after Gov. Jeff Landry signed a new executive order Monday.
Why it matters: The order targets "election integrity," Landry said.
Zoom in: Landry's order also requires state agencies to include a notice that citizenship is a requirement for voting when providing residents with voting registration information.
Catch up quick: The executive order comes on the heels of state lawmakers tightening voter laws during Louisiana's most recent legislative session.
- Among those changes were stricter rules around absentee ballots, a requirement beginning in 2025 that voters show proof of citizenship and other procedural changes.
The big picture: Now, Landry becomes the latest in a growing string of Republican governors to use executive orders to tighten election policies ahead of the next presidential election as Republican nominee and former President Trump continues his focus on election integrity.
- Landry's order is similar to one recently signed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little.
- Citing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's recent announcement that his administration purged more than 6,000 non-citizens from that state's voter rolls, Landry said on Monday that his order was necessary because the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policies have "dog-whistled people into this country," leading to more people coming into the U.S.
Reality check: The suggestion that non-citizens are voting en masse in the U.S. is a debunked, if pervasive, conspiracy theory.
- Youngkin's office has not confirmed whether any of the purged names had actually voted or if they were identified in error, NBC News reported.
- And in Louisiana, voter fraud has been a rare problem. Secretary of State Nancy Landry, also a Republican, said Monday that 48 "non-citizens" have been removed from Louisiana's voting rolls since 2022 after "mistakenly or with intention" registering to vote.
- Her predecessor, Kyle Ardoin, maintained that elections during his tenure were also secure.
What she said: "I'm confident in the policies and procedures my office has in place to ensure the accuracy of our voter rolls and the integrity of our elections," Nancy Landry said.
- "However, I will not let confidence turn to complacency."
Go deeper: Read the executive order.