BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Gov. John Bel Edwards has agreed to reschedule Louisiana’s fall 2021 elections in light of devastation left by Hurricane Ida. The election originally scheduled for October 9 is moved to November 13, and the election originally scheduled for November 13 will be on December 11.

According to a press release from the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, Gov. Edwards agreed on Wednesday to Ardoin’s recommendation of rescheduling the elections.

“Secretary Ardoin briefed me this past Tuesday on the upcoming fall elections. Based on his reporting and certification to me yesterday that holding the elections as currently scheduled would impair the integrity of those elections, based on numerous issues related to displaced voters and election day personnel as well as extensive power outages and damage to early-voting and election day polling places, I signed an executive order [Thursday] to reschedule the upcoming fall elections,” Gov. Edwards said.

“I am thankful that the Governor has recognized the importance of our recommendation to move the October 9 election to November 13 and the November 13 election to December 11,” Secretary Ardoin said. “This will allow our staff and local partners more time to properly prepare for a statewide election while ensuring the integrity of our election processes and that our voters’ traditional voting habits are as undisturbed as possible.”

Further announcements including an emergency certification and election-related deadlines are forthcoming.

Click here to read the Governor’s executive order.