With less than 90 days remaining until the November presidential election, election integrity is on many people’s minds. Republican officials and activists have looked for ways to ensure the security of this November’s election.

In a groundbreaking move last week, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order calling for the state of Virginia to exclusively use hand-marked paper ballots for this year’s presidential election.

Here are some of the required directives under Governor Youngkin’s executive order:

• 100% paper ballots which provides a physical record of the voter’s intent
• Use of paper ballot counting machines, not voting machines
• Strict chain of custody for ballots with daily reconciliation during early voting
• Application required to receive a mail ballot – no mass mailing of ballots
• Counting Machines tested prior to every election
• Counting machines not connected to the internet
• Drop boxes under 24/7 monitoring

Mind you, Governor Youngkin is a Republican Governor in a solidly Democrat state (Virginia). Yet, Republican governors in deep red states have not taken similar actions for their state’s election systems.

Besides Governor Youngkin, both the Republican National Committee (RNC) and President Trump have both repeatedly supported paper ballots for American elections. In fact, the RNC called for paper ballots in the party’s 2024 platform. 

Unfortunately, Louisiana’s Republican politicians have remained staunchly against paper ballots. Most Republican legislators, Governor Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill, and Secretary of State Nancy Landry have refused to support paper ballots in Louisiana elections. 

In 2024, Louisiana Republican pols can’t have their cake and eat it too. Louisiana politicians can’t claim to be loyal Trump supporters and MAGA Republicans while simultaneously opposing President Trump and the RNC’s position on paper ballots. This contradiction is on full display when you consider that Trump endorsed Jeff Landry, Liz Murrill, and Nancy Landry in last year’s election cycle—the latter two candidates during the run-off. One has to wonder if Trump will even endorse these politicians in 2027 due to their opposition to paper ballots, but I digress.

The good news is that some members of the LA Republican State Central Committee (RSCC) want Louisiana to get ahead of other states on the issues of election integrity. For Saturday’s RSCC meeting, a member will propose a resolution to support hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots in the state of Louisiana.

Let’s hope that Louisiana Republicans rally behind President Trump and follow Governor Youngkin’s lead in supporting paper ballots. Passing this RSCC resolution will be a good start toward securing Louisiana’s elections—especially with the election season taking place during hurricane season.

Nathan Koenig is a frequent contributor to RVIVR.com, a national conservative political site affiliated with The Hayride. Follow his writing on the Louisiana First Standard Substack, on Twitter (X) @LAFirstStandard, on Tik Tok @la.first.standard & on Instagram @lafirststandard. Email him here: louisianafirststandard@proton.me