LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – With the presidential election now in the review mirror, and several unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud around the country, people want to make sure their ballots were actually protected, and counted.
We’re getting answers in tonight’s Dial Dalfred report.
If you were to walk into the Lafayette Parish Registrar of Voters office in the days following election day, the sounds would remind you of a supermarket, but what’s actually happening is one of many steps in protecting the election and that starts with protecting the registered voter books once the polls have closed.
Charlene Meaux Menard the Lafayette Parish Registrar of Voters says, “The book is my book with all the registered voters in it. The commissioners are instructed, there is a blue seal to return the books. They lock the books up, put it in the voting machine and then the machines are picked up and brought back to the warehouse.”
The next day, a hired driver delivers these secure crates to the registrars office.
“Open your book, this is coming from the warehouse to the office to start what we call giving credit”, Menard told us.
To give credit, each voter has their own barcode in the registered voter books, and once that code is scanned during the ‘wanding’ process it sends a message to the secretary of states office confirming that you voted.
And for everyone who wants to make sure their vote was counted, just go to voterportal.sos.la.gov and you want to search by voter.
You’ll then type you name, your zip code, followed by your birth month and year; be sure you use a forward slash between the month and year or you won’t get the results.
Keep in mind the voter portal will only show your ballot was accepted if you voted by mail.
If you voted at a precinct you can call your registrar of voters to check on your ballot.
If there’s an ongoing issue in your neighborhood or community or there’s a story you’d like me to investigate, send me an email at DialDalfred@klfy.com.