Letter: Schedler responds to voter fraud investigation

I take any and all allegations of fraud very seriously, but I can only speak on behalf of the election system here in Louisiana since it is the one I control. Louisiana did not have any widespread irregularities or allegations of fraud during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
In our state, you must be a citizen of the United States in order to register to vote. In fact, when you register you are in effect signing a legal affidavit and creating an official public record stating that you meet all of the necessary requirements.
Creating a false public record is a serious crime that is punishable by law. In addition, Louisiana has a trusted, election-day photo I.D. law in our state that provides an additional level of security.
Our registrar of voters statewide are also required by law to review, monitor and update our voter registration lists for accuracy.
One tool they use is a robust program called the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which allows states to share data allowing us to clean our registration records by removing individuals who are identified as no longer living in our state or who have died.
ERIC includes data from more than 21 states as well as the national change of address program giving us confidence that only those eligible to vote in Louisiana are in fact, voting.
In other words, Louisiana has many layers of legal protection to shield us from voter fraud.
It is for the above reasons, and because we received no complaints or allegations of illegal citizens registering or voting on Election Day that I was able to, in good conscious, certify Louisiana’s election results.
Do I believe there could be precincts in this country in which there are voters on the rolls who have moved out of state or have died?
Yes, I do.
And if a presidential investigation can produce evidence concerning this scenario or any other fraudulent activity it should be shared with the states so that it can be cleaned up and put to rest.
I can assure you that conducting free and fair elections will always be my top priority and if I feel that our laws are being broken by anyone, I will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Tom Schedler
Louisiana secretary
of state