Felony status urged for election fraud

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 6, 2009 - Page: 12A

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Some election fraud violations could be elevated from misdemeanor to felony status under proposals submitted to a legislative panel Thursday.

First Assistant Secretary of State Tom Schedler said the recommendations were submitted to Louisiana’s district attorneys and sheriffs for review. Only those that pass muster with those two groups would be pursued when the state Legislature convenes again next year, Schedler assured lawmakers.

“Some of this may be ‘Wow, you have gone a little too far,’ ” Schedler said.

Schedler and Election Security director Fred Gwin presented a report to a joint meeting of the House and Senate Governmental Affairs committees.

The report came in response to a resolution by state Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, seeking recommended changes to election offenses and associated penalties.

“What happens to us is when it gets into voter fraud, district attorneys look to the criminal code to prosecute because there (are) no teeth in the election code,” Schedler said.

He said Gwin did a section-by-section comparison of the criminal and election codes to see where penalties could potentially be aligned. The recommendations come from that analysis, he said.

“There are quite a number of election code offenses that should be considered at least relative felonies,” Gwin said. Those penalties can be assessed with or without jail time, he said.

“Some I agree should stay as misdemeanors,” Gwin said.

In most cases, Gwin said, he suggested a penalty a little less severe than that contained in the criminal statutes.

The recommendations cover bribery of voters; bribery, threats or intimidation of public officials or candidates; tampering with election equipment; threats or intimidation of voters; and offenses involving registration, election fraud or forgery and those involving election commissioners, poll watchers and officials.

The bribery of voters statute in criminal law along with felony penalties are moved into the election law under the proposal.

A first offense could yield a fine of up to $2,000 or a jail sentence with or without hard labor for up to two years, or both. Subsequent offenses would yield a fine of up to $5,000 or jail time of up to five years, or both.