Republican Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana Secretary of State, will be stepping down after elections later this year. He took the time to reflect on his five years in office at the Republican Women of Southwest Louisiana meeting on Thursday.

He was officially elected to the role Dec. 8, 2018 after serving as interim Secretary of State since May of that year. Eight years prior to his election, he served as First Assistant Secretary of State.

As Secretary of State, he and his team worked to protect election integrity with three main goals: “securing a paper based voting system for the state, protecting the security of sensitive voter data and continuing the agency’s high-tech protections for both the elections and commercial division,” said Ann O’Reilly, Republican Women of SWLA publicity chairman.

Additionally, in 2021, Ardoin was certified as an election registration administrator and currently serves on the Election Infrastructure Subsector Government Coordinating Council.

He spoke to the obstacles he faced while in office.

“When I took over in May of 2018, our state faced a myriad of challenges, from COVID-19 to natural disasters to the aftermath of 2020 elections, and it’s safe to say it hasn’t been the easiest of times for anyone.”

Despite the hurdles, Louisiana’s Secretary of State’s Office continued to stand out amongst others in the nation, ranking sixth on a national level. He believes that ranking was given because Louisiana’s elections are “safe, secure and damn well accurate.”

In 2022, Louisiana received the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) IDEAS award for the Operation Geaux Vote Task Force app that was launched in response to the storms of 2020 and 2021. This was the second IDEAS award Louisiana won in six years.

Other accomplishments helped the state rise in the rankings during Ardoin’s term including implementing the small business protection act to “to increase regulatory transparency” and a ban on ballot harvesting and banning the use of TikTok on agency and state government devices.

His office also spearheaded an amendment passed in December, 2022 that prohibits non-citizens from registering and voting in Louisiana.

Bipartisan collaboration and vigilant fact-checking are actions that he advocates for.

“I just wish politics wasn’t so nasty as it’s turned. We’re forgetting how to work together to solve problems and all we’re doing is believing what we see or hear on the internet, and take it as fact.”

He urged voters to trust Louisiana’s election process.

“Everything that you’ve heard about what’s happened in other states in elections, does not happen here. It’s not how we work. We’re not counting votes in Russia or Germany or Spain.”

Everytime someone in Louisiana votes, they are voting on a secure machine that is not connected to the internet, he said. When asked about the security of Dominion voting systems, he stated that “no one has shown any proof that votes are flipped” by the machines.

“The ones we are currently using, as antiquated as they are, don’t even know what the internet is. They’re not connected to it.”

All election day voting machines used in Louisiana have tamper-proof seals internally installed and are owned, operated and programmed by the State. Early voting machines are leased.

Ardoin said these machines are leased because there is “no sense in buying them” when Louisiana is possibly converting to a paper-based system that would allow for election audits, as well as give voters the chance to verify their vote before it is casted.

“That’s going to be left up to the next secretary.”

He expressed his support for constitutional amendment number one, which will appear on the Oct.14 ballot. If passed, this amendment would prohibit the use of funds, goods or services from a foreign government or nongovernmental source to conduct election and election function and duties.

This amendment would further secure Louisiana’s election process, he said.

“It will raise our election integrity measure higher than six, so we’ll be getting close to that number one spot.”

Louisiana would be the first state to add an amendment of this nature.

Ardoin said he is not concerned about the future of Louisiana’s election system and Secretary of State Office.

“I am confident that the next secretary of state will procure a system with the speed and accuracy that we are used to and the auditability that we need moving forward.”

He will hold his time as Secretary of State dear to his heart.

“As I prepare to leave office and pursue other avenues of public service, it’s been a blessing… I love you all, I love this great state. I’ve been dedicated to this state my entire life, in politics in some form or fashion.”