The LAGOP would like to respond to a recent statement and subsequent comments by Katie Bernhardt, the chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party, as regards the Caddo Parish sheriff’s race which took place on November 18th.

By way of information, a one vote margin separated the Democrat candidate for sheriff,  Henry Whitehorn (21,624 votes), from his Republican opponent, John Nickelson (21,623 votes). A quick recount resulted in three additional votes for each party, but recounts do not delve into irregularities in the election, only tabulations.

When Mr. Nickelson requested a hand recount of the absentee ballots, which is where most voter irregularities are discovered, his request was denied by the Democrat dominated Caddo Parish Board of Election Supervisors. Left with no choice, Mr. Nickelson then filed suit in state court to challenge the election results.

In any election other than a small town hall meeting in a rural area, a one vote margin separating the winner from the loser almost always means that election officials will soon be dealing with recounts, lawsuits, and quite possibly, election reruns. Our election system has been changed and tinkered with far too often to allow it to deal with truly minute disparities in voter totals, if indeed it ever could have dealt with a one vote margin in an election wherein 43,247 total votes were cast. (This is a difference of .00002312%, to those wishing to be mathematically precise about the margin of victory in this race.)

Unfortunately, Ms. Bernhardt and other Democrats have made inflammatory comments about the trial court’s initial decision, which has since been upheld by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, to void the election results and hold a new election on March 23, 2024.

The LAGOP has no problem whatsoever when someone on the other side disagrees about the facts or the law. One can disagree about such things, and that is why we have courts. However, it should be noted that both the trial court and the appellate court arrived at the same conclusion supporting Mr. Nickelson’s contentions after all the arguments were made by capable attorneys for each side, namely, that it was logically impossible to determine who received the most votes in this election. That is the ultimate test after all, and it was uncontested that two individuals were allowed to vote twice (once by absentee ballot and again on Election Day at their polling places). This should not have happened, but it did.

But there is more- four individuals voted who had previously been interdicted in a court of law, that is to say they had been declared incapable of handling their own affairs, which should have precluded them from voting. Worst of all, numerous absentee ballots were allowed and counted by the Caddo Board of Election Supervisors, despite the fact that the ballots had not been filled out correctly.

Considering the foregoing facts, the voiding of this election was not so much a matter of law as it was of math and logic: Once the presiding court determined that the winner of the election could not be determined, the court had no choice but to void the November 18th election and order a new election.

Nevertheless, Ms. Bernhardt released the following written statement on December 13th, quoted in part: “The voters of Caddo Parish have spoken, but John Nickelson and his benefactors are trying to take us back to a world reminiscent of Jim Crow, a world of exclusion, control, and violent inequality.” This was part of the official response by the Louisiana Democratic Party, and when asked by reporters shortly after releasing her written statement, she again made the Jim Crow comparison.

Students of history will find this statement appalling. African-Americans suffered under Jim Crow for decades after the Civil War, and to draw a comparison with what they went through versus the good-faith efforts of courts and election officials to remedy a faulty 21st Century election, would be sheer nonsense were it not so demeaning to the memory of generations of African-Americans.

The LAGOP hopes that the new Caddo sheriff’s election scheduled for March 23, 2024, will be fought on the issues, rather than inflammatory race-baiting comments made by persons in responsible positions of party governance. The people of Caddo Parish deserve nothing less.