Our Terrible Bills O’ The Day are all either very stupid or very evil, and sometimes both. Today’s is stupid as a piece of public policy but in intention it’s undoubtedly evil. We bring you House Bill 490, by Rep. Rodney Lyons, a black Democrat from Marrero…

Abstract: Prohibits requiring parental consent for high school seniors of at least 17 years of age to participate in the opportunity to register to vote offered at school, requires related policies and guidance to conform with the La. Election Code, and provides for those who may or may not assist in the opportunity.

Present law requires public school governing authorities to provide high school seniors who are at least 17 the opportunity to register to vote by using a school computer to fill out an electronic voter registration application or by using the state mail voter registration application form. Proposed law specifies that parental consent shall not be required.

With respect to this required opportunity:

(1) Present law prohibits the involvement of any political or partisan group or organization in the registration process. Proposed law repeals present law and instead prohibits a candidate for elected public office from involvement in the registration process and authorizes a public school governing authority to allow any nonpartisan group or organization to assist in providing the opportunity to register to vote to high school seniors.

(2) Present law requires each public school governing authority to adopt policies therefor and to review them at least every five years. Proposed law requires the public school governing authority to ensure the policy conforms to the La. Election Code.

(3) Present law authorizes each public school governing authority to follow the secretary of state’s guidance in implementation. Proposed law requires the secretary of state to ensure that his guidance conforms to the La. Election Code.

Present law provides that the secretary of state shall administer the laws relating to custody of voting machines and voter registration, and for this purpose he shall specifically perform any functions and duties including providing for the voluntary registration of individuals or entities that conduct voter registration drives.

Proposed law further requires the secretary of state to develop guidance for public school governing authorities providing opportunities for high school seniors to register to vote as required by present law (R.S. 17:2121). Specifies that in developing the guidance, the secretary shall conform to the election code and shall not state or imply that parental consent is required or that any person or organization is prohibited from assisting public school governing authorities in providing the opportunity to register to vote, unless the person or organization or type of person or organization is expressly prohibited by law from assisting or from being on or near a school campus.

The big change that matters here is that current law freezes out the left-wing nonprofits and the community-organizer mob from going into the public schools and using them as vote farms, which Lyon’s bill would do away with and simply ban “candidates” from doing it.

You’d look at this and scoff, and you’d say that under no circumstances would Louisiana’s legislature pass such a trash bill.

Except it went through the House and Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday and it passed to the floor on a 7-4-1 vote.

Worse, there were Republicans who voted for it. Specifically, Barry Ivey, Richard Nelson and Malinda White.

No bueno.

This bill needs to be killed on the floor. For the same reason that the Zuckerbucks bill needs to pass. The only way Louisiana will switch back from a red state to a blue state is if Democrat machine organizations paid for by out-of-state billionaires, the George Soroses of the world, are able to mobilize low-information and low-productivity voters behind their machine candidates.

And don’t come back with how voter engagement of whatever stripe is an unalloyed good thing. It’s not. Stupid voters make stupid votes, and stupid votes have gotten us where we are, in this state and nationally. We can’t think of a larger supply of stupid voters than high school seniors at our failed public schools. These are kids who know literally nothing – they couldn’t tell you what the three branches of government are, they don’t know who was governor before Bobby Jindal, they couldn’t name Louisiana’s congressional delegation. So of course Rodney Lyons wants to trail a bunch of Zuckerbucks or Soros money in here to dragoon every one of them into the voting booth.

No. Just no. And for his efforts, we’re giving Lyons today’s TBOD award, with a special set of brickbats for Nelson, Ivey and White for having played Washington Generals to his Harlem Globetrotter routine. Let’s hope the rest of the GOP reps are smarter than this when the bill goes to the floor.