The Louisiana governor’s race is in the rearview mirror. Voters and pundits are rightly looking ahead to the next four years. Before we close the book on the 2019 elections, however, one item deserves a deeper look: Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s appearances at two campaign rallies for Republican gubernatorial runoff candidate Eddie Rispone. Both rallies featured President Donald Trump trying to help Rispone beat Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. That didn’t happen, but something else did.

Ardoin, in our opinion, violated state law.

First, a civics lesson. As secretary of state, Ardoin is Louisiana’s chief elections officer. He alone bears ultimate responsibility for the fairness, impartiality and integrity of all state and local elections. Because of the enormity of those responsibilities, state law prohibits him from engaging in political activity except when running for office himself. Through a spokesman, Ardoin claims that’s all he was doing at the two Trump rallies. The record shows otherwise.

During the Nov. 6 rally in Monroe, Ardoin led cheers in support of both the president and Rispone. "Louisiana will continue to win. We will win with Donald Trump," Ardoin bellowed. He also asked the crowd, “Who do you want for your next president? And who do you want as your next governor?”

State law is clear: The secretary of state can campaign for himself, but he “shall not participate or engage in any other political activity, including the candidacy of any other person for election to public office.” Louisiana’s Constitution defines “political activity” as an effort to support or oppose a candidate or political party in an election.

Ardoin, a Republican, defended his actions, though he would only address the matter through a prepared statement, which read: “Secretary Ardoin attended the event with President Trump to accept the President’s endorsement for his re-election as Secretary of State and to promote his own candidacy as permitted in RS 18:18.2 section A. This is a non-issue.”

No surprise there, but, to quote the president, “Wrong!” State law bars Ardoin's mere participation. He went much further.

This is not just a question of law. It’s also a question of voter confidence. While Ardoin won re-election in a landslide, Edwards won by a mere 40,000 votes (51.3%). In fact, the governor’s race was a nail-biter until nearly all precincts had reported. Had it been closer, such as the recent Kentucky governor’s race, which was decided by just over 5,000 votes — or if there had been allegations of fraud — is there any doubt which candidate Ardoin would have favored?

Ardoin took office as interim secretary when his old boss, fellow Republican Tom Schedler, resigned after getting sued by a staffer for sexual harassment. Ardoin then won the job outright last year. Schedler’s scandal reflected poorly on his judgment, but in his eight years as secretary he never showed any partiality for or against any candidate or party. What Ardoin has done is a much darker scandal, because it goes beyond his judgment; it calls into question the impartiality of the office itself — and its commitment to safeguarding citizens’ most sacred right of all. It cries out for an independent investigation.