2008 Woodie Awards
Voters across Louisiana made their way to the polls Sept. 18 to vote on an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. The amendment passed with an overwhelming majority, 78 percent in favor to 22 percent opposed, but allegations of botched elections procedures taint the validity of the outcome.
New Orleans, home to a significant gay and lesbian population, was the only region of the state where the race was somewhat close. The ban still passed, with 55 percent for and 45 percent against the amendment. About 27 percent of Louisiana's 2.8 million registered voters cast ballots, a relatively low turnout for such a divisive subject.
The election has come under scrutiny after 90 of the 442 precincts in New Orleans failed to receive voting machines until mid-afternoon, well after polls were to have opened. The late delivery of voting machines to at least 52 polling stations may have disenfranchised up to 58,000 Orleans Parish residents.
Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen's decision to hold the election immediately after the evacuation was initially criticized by Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal Court Kimberly Williamson Butler, the city's highest elections official.
Louisiana officials did not expect voting to be disrupted by Ivan.
Prior to the election, McKeithen said, "We know that there is the possibility of having fewer poll workers available to us due to evacuations. While we believe that most of the evacuees will be able to return to their homes by Saturday, we are prepared in the event that extra personnel are needed."
Butler has since accepted some of the blame for problems with the Sept. 18 election, and said "The system that we have in place to execute our elections was inadequately prepared for Ivan. As chief elections officer of this parish, I am fully and completely responsible for that system."
The day before the election, McKeithen received word New Orleans could be missing up to 100 commissioners needed to work the polls. McKeithen responded by training 40 of his own staff members in Baton Rouge to work the polls and sending them to New Orleans early morning Sept. 18.
Vans delivering voting machines arrived at New Orleans schools used as polling stations to discover no one there to unlock the buildings. After repeated attempts to deliver the machines failed, Covan World-wide Moving drivers returned the voting machines to their New Orleans warehouse. The final voting machine delivery was not made until 3 p.m., just five hours before polls closed. McKeithen complained that numerous tries to reach the moving company via phone were met with a recorded message.
As originally reported in the "Times-Picayune," Louisiana's three-year contract with the delivery company was terminated Tuesday. "Due to the failure of your company to deliver all voting machines in Orleans Parish before the statutorily mandated (6 a.m.) opening of the polling places for the Sept. 18 election, the Louisiana Department of State has decided to terminate your contract for hauling voting machines in Orleans Parish," McKeithen said in a letter addressed to the president of Covan's parent company.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now have appealed to the United States Justice Department to investigate the elections. Both groups are concerned with the elections problems in New Orleans, where nearly 70 percent of voters are black, and have also asked the Justice Department to monitor the Nov. 2 election in New Orleans.
As part of a probe into the Sept. 18 elections process set up by McKeithen and Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, two legislative committees have scheduled a hearing today at 10 a.m. in New Orleans. McKeithen called the Sept. 18 election problems "the biggest election fiasco in modern Louisiana history."
Issues of improper attempts to influence voters at the polling station have also been raised. One man claims his poll moderator handed him a sheet of paper explaining the proposed ban on gay marriage, pointed to the part telling about voting against the ban, and said, "That's the one to vote for if you're for the gays."
A month before the proposed ban was to be decided on, State Civil District Judge Christopher Bruno declared the amendment's inclusion on ballots unconstitutional, a decision that was later overturned in the Louisiana Supreme Court just two weeks before voting day.
Louisiana already has a law banning gay marriage, but the amendment makes the law more significant and gives the state the right not to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions originating in other states.
Tulane students generally were opposed to bans on marriage and the new amendment.
"It's very unfortunate. I wish all states would allow it. I wish Louisiana did not contribute to the opposition to gay marriage," sophomore Whitney Walker said.
Some students were vehement in their rejection of the ban.
"I don't even want to live in a country where I can't choose what's right and wrong for myself. The government shouldn't control how we view right and wrong," freshman Justine Pigott said.
Freshman Garrett Perrin agreed. "The government should stay out of all personal affairs," he said.
The Forum for Equality, a Louisiana Political Action Committee, has promised to fight the decision. John Rawls, a lawyer for the committee, claims that there are many possible reasons for taking the election to court. A case between the Forum and the City of New Orleans was deferred the Louisiana Court of Appeals.
Some Tulanians didn't support the legislation, but felt that the people of Louisiana should have the authority to decide.
Sophomore Lindsey Powers was disappointed that the amendment had passed, but said, "This is definitely a states' rights issue. Louisiana does have the right to decide."
Other students asserted that the issue should be resolved at the Federal level.
"Unless it's passed by the Supreme Court, I don't think it should be legal," sophomore Ryan Trapani said.
Four other states currently have similar bans in their constitutions: Alaska, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nevada. Ten others are in the process of deciding whether to include a referendum regarding same-sex marriage in an upcoming election: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.
HOUSE AD: The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election is Oct. 4. Students from different states are permitted to register to vote in Louisiana, which can be completed online at www.sos.louisiana.gov. Absentee ballots from home states are available online or by mail, and can be found at individual state election websites. All Tulane students are encouraged to vote.