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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Louisiana lawmakers intend a close watch as the state shops for new voting machines, a vendor search that comes in the aftermath of a divisive, partisan national uproar about the mechanics of casting ballots and the equipment used in that process.
The solicitation for contractors went out last week, and lawmakers are planning a joint hearing of the House and Senate elections oversight committees on Feb. 19 to dig into the details of Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s effort to replace 10,000 decades-old voting machines.
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“We as legislators want to be able to tell our constituents that this is a good process and that we are confident in the vendor that was selected. I think part of our responsibility is rebuilding the public trust. I think some of the national issues have caused everyone to have doubts,” said Sen. Sharon Hewitt, the Slidell Republican who chairs the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee that oversees voting issues.
Eddie Rispone, photographed Friday, Dec. 13, 2019 next to a religious devotion area that he and his wife set up at their Baton Rouge home, spent $13.5 million to go from being an unknown businessman to becoming the favored Republican candidate backed wholeheartedly by President Donald Trump, only to fall short to incumbent John Bel Edwards by 40,000 votes out of 1.5 million cast on Nov. 16. A man of deep Catholic faith, he expressed no major regrets about the campaign and said he will not run for governor again but will want to stay engaged in Louisiana politics somehow.
STAFF PHOTO BY TRAVIS SPRADLING