I know I know I'm behind on everything

Just a few days ago I was telling myself I'd take the Labor Day weekend to get caught up on all the stuff. But then I did none of the stuff, instead. This is a very bad blog now for #content. I'll try and get caught up this week.  We recorded a podcast last week but I fucked up the audio and haven't fixed it well enough to put it out yet. I have more books to write about. It's football season, so we should say something about that. We just passed another Katrina anniversary. Did anybody even notice? It's city budget season.... there's a lot of things.  Meanwhile here's me pretty much all weekend.



I don't know. I'll get it together, maybe. Or not. We'll see!

Oh shit also there's an election happening. Might as well throw that on the pile too. This is coming up real fast.  The last day to register to vote is next week.

The Oct. 12 ballot will contain both local and statewide races, including primaries for governor, secretary of state and lieutenant governor. The deadline to register to vote in this election is Sept. 11 (in person or by mail). Those registering online through the GeauxVote portal on the secretary of state’s website have until Sept. 21 to register.

Early voting for the Oct. 12 election is Sept. 28-Oct. 5 (not including Sunday, Sept. 29) from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Individuals who need absentee ballots must request them by Oct. 8 at 4:30 p.m. and get them to the Registrar of Voters via mail by Oct. 11 at 4:30 p.m. (with the exception of military and overseas voters). 

That isn't a lot of time to make up this deficit. 

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana law change earlier this year restored voting rights to thousands of convicted felons, but at most, only a few hundred have registered to vote so far. Data from the secretary of state's office shows modest upticks in the number of felons who have registered to vote since the law loosened March 1.

Louisiana legislators agreed to allow people on probation or parole for a felony to register to vote if they haven't been incarcerated for at least five years, a change estimated to make 36,000 felons eligible for voter registration. But since the law took effect, 581 felons have had their voting rights restored. The secretary of state's office has said it cannot determine which were able to register specifically because of the law change.

That is.. not exactly terrific progress.  Especially considering the extended lead time the Sec of State's office had to prepare for the change.  Preparations for the new rules going into effect even got extra attention during the course of a special election last year. Kyle Ardoin promised his office would be ready.  But as of this March, from the looks of things, he's been taking it about as seriously as I've been taking the blog lately.

Details about navigating the new law don't appear on the Secretary of State website's homepage — a result of prioritizing special elections and other important elections information, Ardoin said.

VOTE has been working to educate those affected by the new law, putting posters in probation and parole offices and distributing fliers for people to share.

“It’s interesting that so much of the explanatory burden is falling on an organization that was founded in Angola and run by formerly incarcerated persons,” Reilly said. “We’re doing our best to reach people in a lot of different ways.”

And, of course, Ardoin is back on the ballot himself next month.  Can't imagine that would have been a reason for him to drag his feet on something like this.