Louisiana voters received reassuring news on Monday when the Secretary of State’s office announced that it had restored active status to roughly 67,000 individuals who were mistakenly classified as inactive during routine database maintenance.
What happened
Deputy Secretary of State for Communications and Policy Trey Williams told The Center Square that a human‑error during a scheduled database update on Monday night caused a temporary change in voter status. The error did not affect anyone’s eligibility to vote, and no voter’s registration was cancelled.
“We corrected the error later that day and moved everyone who was temporarily changed back to active voter status,” Williams said in an emailed response.
Office response and safeguards
Williams said the office has already put additional internal safeguards in place to prevent a repeat of the incident, though specific details of those safeguards were not disclosed. The agency also noted that it could not provide a parish‑by‑parish breakdown of the affected voters, stating, “The impacted individuals were located across the state. We do not have a parish‑by‑parish breakdown of those impacted.”
How Louisiana handles inactive designations
Under the Secretary of State’s published guidance, a voter may be marked inactive if a parish registrar cannot verify the voter’s address during the annual canvass or if mailed correspondence is returned as undeliverable. Voters whose addresses have not changed remain eligible to vote but must confirm their address at the ballot box.
What voters should do
Williams encouraged all Louisiana voters to verify their registration information ahead of upcoming elections. “As always before an election, we encourage voters to check their registration status, information, and sample ballots by logging into the voter portal at Geauxvote.com or using the Geauxvote app,” he said.
Louisiana’s election officials emphasized that the swift correction demonstrates a commitment to maintaining accurate voter rolls and ensuring that every eligible citizen can exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
