Well that plus letting all the Union soldiers vote.
The mid-term Republican landslide was nationwide, not just in Louisiana.
Also, northern Union soldiers who voted in southern states in 1866 were not also voting in their home states.
Well, the Dems are working on rectifying that mistake these days:
Mr. Cornyn co-authored a 2009 law mandating that states mail absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days before the election. Yet, as former Justice Department lawyer Eric Eversole first reported in The Washington Times last week, the department seems to be encouraging states to apply for waivers so they won't have to follow that law. More than 17,000 Americans serving overseas were denied the vote in 2008 - but, presumably because military personnel are thought to lean conservative, the liberal Obama administration is in no hurry to correct the situation.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/28/holder-puts-felons-over-soldiers/
A full 19 hours after it began, the nightmarish battle over Duval´s military ballots came to an end. When the canvassing board announced that the ballots of 149 soldiers, sailors and airmen had been disqualified, a pair of jubilant Gore lawyers actually exchanged high-fives for their victory against America’s service personnel.
"A Republican, visibly shaken by this sight, demanded to know how they could celebrate the disenfranchisement of U.S. military personnel risking their lives around the world. One of the Gore lawyers glibly replied: ‘A win´s a win.’"
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/5/8/225831.shtml