Vote harvesting is generally defined as gathering and submitting of absentee/mail-in ballots by third parties rather than directly by the voter.

Although assisting persons vote by absentee sounds meritorious, locally there have been many repeated allegations of improprieties. Specifically, voters have been asked to only sign and leave blank the portions dealing with candidate voting. The "harvester" then fills in the candidate’s name.

Louisiana law has strict rules on who can witness an absentee ballot and limits the number of ballots that can be witnessed by a third party.

The brief filed by John Nickelson in this case identified 16 absentee ballots that were witnessed by a "WD". (The brief always referred to voters and witnesses by initials only.) During the trial Wendell Delaney was identified as a witness on at least one of the contested ballots.

There are many reports that Delaney is a major vote harvester.

People say that Delaney goes to nursing homes preying on the elderly, getting them to sign absentee ballots in blank. Then he fills in the name of the candidate that he is working for.

There is also a report that Delaney was caught in the act during the Sheriff election and that a police report has been filed.

Hopefully, the absentee ballots will be sealed for further examination after the sheriff challenge is resolved. A close examination of the 7800 ballots will likely provide definitive evidence of vote harvesting by Delaney and maybe others.