Inactive Voter Status Raises Eyebrows for Caddo Commissioner in Shreveport
A local elected official in Shreveport is currently on the Louisiana inactive voter list and we wondered why. KEEL News discovered that Caddo Parish Commissioner Steffon Jones was listed as inactive on the Louisiana Secretary of State's website.
We have been waiting to investigate this case before contacting Jones to ask him why he was inactive. Secretary of State Nancy Landry has told KEEL News residents are put on the inactive list if they have not voted in 10 years or more.
Louisiana has moved more than 500,000 voters to the inactive voter list over the past 2 years. We do need to make it clear you can still vote if you're on the inactive list, but you will have to show proof of your address when you go vote.
Landry tells us there are still about 450,000 on the inactive list.
But you can also be put on the inactive list for other reasons. Periodically voters are sent an address verification card and if that card is returned, the voter can be put on the inactive list. KEEL requested Jones' voting record and learned he has missed 3 elections out of the past 10. The most significant vote he missed was the April 2024 election which included the massive bond package for the City of Shreveport.
Steffon Jones got this message on the Louisiana voter portal:
Your voter registration status is “inactive” because your registration address was not able to be verified by your parish registrar of voters during the annual canvass, or because correspondence sent to the address on file has been returned as undeliverable. If you do not confirm your address or you do not vote by 12/09/2028, your name may be removed from the voter registration list.
Jones tells KEEL he will now be going on a campaign to educate voters about the inactive voter list to encourage voters to check their status. You can find out if you are on the inactive list by clicking this link.