Louisiana

New Louisiana election laws creating challenges for voters with disabilities

Published

2 years ago

November 2, 2024

New Louisiana election laws creating challenges for voters with disabilities

New laws aimed at protecting the 2024 presidential election from fears about fraud are creating unexpected barriers for some of the nation’s more than 40.2 million voters with disabilities, disability rights advocates have told CBS News.

Laws in more than 20 states now restrict various elements of mail-in ballots including limiting the kinds of assistance a voter can ask for. Restrictions like those limit the ability of health aides and nurses to help prepare a ballot for the people they care for – and some even threaten criminal charges for aides who help too many people to vote.

“If I owned a nursing home or a group home, I [would] put out a memo to my staff saying, ‘don’t help anybody out because if you end up helping two people out by mistake, you could, could go to jail,’” said Andrew Bizer, a disability rights attorney in New Orleans. “And it also puts the folks with disabilities in a really terrible situation.”

Many of the new laws came after the 2020 elections when former President Donald Trump questioned the security of mail-in voting.

A new study released by the Rutgers Program for Disability Research found that there has been a 5.1% increase in people with disabilities eligible to vote in 2020. Among that growing population, 7.1 million eligible voters with disabilities live in seven battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. This shows the potential impacts that restrictive mail-in voting laws could have in next week’s election.

One state confronting this problem is Louisiana. In late May, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a series of laws aimed at increasing the state’s “election integrity.” The laws were first championed by Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry who called them “a boost” to the state’s election protection efforts. She pledged those efforts would “bring us closer to being ranked first in the nation for election integrity.”

One of the laws signed by the governor makes it illegal in the state to assist more than one person with filling out, mailing or witnessing an absentee ballot – unless those being helped are immediate family members. That new restriction places caregivers and those who work at nursing, assisted living or group home facilities at risk of criminal charges if they help too many people with their ballots.

Ashley Volion, a policy analyst with Disability Rights Louisiana who has spastic cerebral palsy and has difficulty with mobility, said she relies heavily on a personal care attendant to assist her with daily tasks.

“I honestly don’t know what I would do, because they help me live my life as independently and as inclusive in the community as possible,” Volion told CBS News.

Volion said both her parents live an hour away from her and are getting older.

“They can’t help me out as much physically as they once did or could do,” she said, leaving her to solely rely on her caregivers to assist her.

Volion is one of 1.1 million voters with disabilities living in Louisiana. It is unclear how many of them rely on aides to assist them with some aspects of their ballot, whether that is to act as a witness or help return their ballot.

For those residing in a nursing home, federal and state protections ensure that they can receive assistance in the form of a visit from their registrar of voters. The task of helping more than 22,000 Louisianians who reside in a nursing home has fallen to the parish Registrars of Voters.

CBS News spoke with one woman who works at Convent Nursing Home in New Orleans. In past years, Elizabeth Ellis was one of the few people able to assist residents at the nursing home with their mail-in ballots and was prepared to do the same this year before a concerned family member called.

“She was the first person to come to me and say, ‘I know that this law is a thing,’” Ellis said. “I know that y’all are going to have to sign and you can’t sign for more than one person.”

Not aware of the new laws, Ellis said she jumped into action to try and pull together enough people to help residents. Some 20% of the residents at Covenant Nursing Home do not have family available to help them, and for even those who do have family nearby, it can be a challenge getting them there to help.

“How are we gonna do this? Because I have a hard time sometimes getting families to be involved in their loved ones’ care,” Ellis told CBS News.

She was able to get local assistance for her nursing home. Two weeks ago the Parish Registrar of Voters visited Covenant Nursing Home and assisted some of the residents with their mail-in ballots. Walking away from the experience, many residents proudly wore their ‘I Voted’ stickers.

Ellis said the visit was more than just making sure her residents cast their ballots.

“For those who are already feeling forgotten, are already feeling that they don’t count. To now not have their votes count either. It’s just an added level of hardship to them that shouldn’t happen,” Ellis said.

According to Ellis, this was the first time the registrar had visited the nursing home to assist since before Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

However, assisted living and other long-term care facilities are not eligible for this service under Louisiana law and remain at risk of not having enough staff to assist residents with their ballots. CBS News found that there are more than 1,300 long-term care facilities across the state that would need to find another way to get assistance and lean on family members to come out and assist. CBS News reached out to several of them to ask about their experiences, but none of them were willing to speak out publicly.

For Bizer, the laws cross a line, breaking federal law.

“The Voting Rights Act says that someone with the disability has the right to choose whoever they want to assist them,” Bizer said. “This restricts that, and it makes the person who helps them, if they help more than one person, that person can go to jail.” Bizer is representing Volion and Disability Rights Louisiana in a lawsuit against the Louisiana secretary of state and attorney general.

Louisiana Secretary of State Landry defended the laws before the state legislature earlier this year, saying they would prevent “ballot harvesting the collection and delivery of mass absentee ballots.” She argued the practice could be “dangerous to voters and an affront to voters and election integrity.”

According to reports from the Secretary of State’s office, Louisiana has seen three instances of voter fraud since 2016.

CBS News reached out to Secretary Landry’s office for comment, but they did not respond.

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Louisiana

Louisiana Tech launches Center for Literacy and Learning to support students, educators

Published

9 hours ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

Louisiana Tech launches Center for Literacy and Learning to support students, educators

RUSTON, La. (KNOE) – Louisiana Tech University’s College of Education and Human Sciences announced it has established a new Center for Literacy and Learning designed to expand evidence-based reading support for children and professional development for educators across North Louisiana.

The university’s Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership said the launch of the Center for Literacy and Learning at Louisiana Tech, also known as L3, will provide diagnostic assessments, tutoring and workshop opportunities, combining academic research with hands-on clinical practice.

“As literacy rates and reading achievement continue to present challenges across Louisiana and the nation, the Center for Literacy and Learning is rooted in supporting evidence-based instruction, applied research, and community partnerships,” said Dr. Dustin Whitlock, interim department head of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership.

Officials said planning for the center began more than a decade ago as faculty sought to expand literacy services for local schools and the surrounding community, but the effort faced delays due to space and funding challenges.

University leaders said momentum increased after faculty partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education and literacy experts nationwide to create a professional learning course for Louisiana K-3 educators. The course, “The Science and Art of Teaching Reading,” focuses on structured literacy practices aligned with Science of Reading research. Louisiana Tech said funding connected to the course and the state education department helped make the center possible.

Megan Hunt, a teacher at A.E. Phillips Laboratory School, was selected to lead the center. Whitlock said Hunt brings a strong background in foundational literacy instruction and is working toward becoming a certified UFLI coach.

“Mrs. Hunt’s skill and expertise allow her to support both students and educators through high-quality literacy instruction and professional learning,” Whitlock said.

Hunt said the center is aimed at building long-term support for literacy instruction through collaboration with districts, families and community partners.

“Literacy affects all aspects of life and is ultimately how people access opportunity and how communities grow stronger,” Hunt said. “When children become proficient readers, it represents more than just academic progress; it changes the trajectory of their lives.”

Local school leaders also praised the partnership. Michelle Thrower, K-2 facilitator for Lincoln Parish Schools, said professional development and resources connected to Louisiana Tech have supported literacy growth in the district.

“Our collaboration with Louisiana Tech has been a cornerstone of our success in elevating literacy proficiency across Lincoln Parish Schools,” Thrower said, citing DIBELS growth tied to the UFLI Foundations curriculum in K-2.

Louisiana Tech said the center will operate through three main components:

The Literacy Clinic
The Literacy Institute
The Literacy Resource Center.

The center is expected to provide individualized assessments, targeted intervention services, literacy workshops and educator professional development.

Officials said the components will be developed in phases over the next few years.

For more information, Louisiana Tech said the public can contact Dr. Dustin Whitlock at whitlock@latech.edu.

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Louisiana

Louisiana among states selected to receive federal funding for rare earth projects

Published

20 hours ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

Louisiana among states selected to receive federal funding for rare earth projects

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday that Louisiana was one of the few states chosen for a $134 million rare earth element initiative in a move that would give the U.S. more independence from China, Reuters reports.

ElementUSA has been awarded about $67 million for a rare earth refining facility projected to cost $850 million in St. John the Baptist Parish to ramp up its production of core material for military vehicles, naval ships and aircrafts.

Louisiana’s rare earth element initiatives are aimed at relocating the critical American minerals supply chain for electric vehicles, renewable energy and national defense. The minerals include bauxite residue, which is a waste product from aluminium production. The plant is expected to produce roughly 150-1,000 metric tons of rare earths annually.

Oklahoma was also chosen to receive grant money for a refining facility in Tulsa.

Reuters has the full story.

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Louisiana

DHS watchdog finds use-of-force issues and safety and sanitation concerns at Louisiana ICE center

Published

1 day ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

DHS watchdog finds use-of-force issues and safety and sanitation concerns at Louisiana ICE center

A Department of Homeland Security watchdog report revealed that staff members at an ICE detention center in Louisiana used a prohibited chokehold to “gain control” of a person being held there and stabbed another in the hand with a pen when an officer could not close the door to a housing unit.

The newly released findings about Winn Correctional Center in central Louisiana follow the DHS inspector general’s review of video of the use-of-force incidents as part of an unannounced facility inspection. The report, which was published on the DHS website, also noted that the officer who stabbed the detainee with a pen was disciplined.

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Staff members failed to maintain safe and sanitary conditions, the report says, noting leaking vents and ceilings with insulation falling through. Staff members used napkins and Styrofoam containers to collect the water from the leaks, according to the report.

Scrutiny of conditions inside ICE detention centers that house more than 60,000 detainees has been growing.

Earlier Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended his agency’s detention standards on Capitol Hill amid complaints about ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. That center has been the site of frequent protests.

Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., accused Mullin of leaving detainees without food or medical care.

Mullin rejected the claims. “You can say all you want, but don’t accuse me of something that’s not accurate,” he said.

The inspector general made nine recommendations, ranging from environmental health and safety standards to proper handling of use-of-force incidents and maintaining food service standards.

ICE is working to address all of the issues, including by providing additional staff training, a spokesperson for the agency said.

“These minor infractions included failing to provide detainees exercise equipment, record keeping errors and leaking vents. Another infraction included providing a shared computer for legal research that would allow other detainees to see other detainees’ case information,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for DHS said the report shows that the facility complies with detention standards.

“ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” the spokesperson said.

Winn Correctional is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country, housing more than 1,500 men. It opened in 1990, and ICE took it over from the state in 2019.

The report was produced after an unannounced inspection by the DHS inspector general, whose office recently got an infusion of $20 million and plans to boost its inspections from four to six per year to potentially as many as 40 to 60.

ICE lists 70% of the 1,500 detainees at Winn as having “No ICE threat level,” meaning they do not have violent criminal histories.

Winn is an hour north of Alexandria, which is one of four hubs for ICE deportation flights around the country.

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