As if the citizens of Louisiana don’t have enough to be outraged about, now the federal government is denying displaced residents a full opportunity to determine their own future by preventing them from participating in the New Orleans city elections in April.

According to the Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater, over 400,000 of Louisiana’s registered voters are dispersed in 49 states across the country. Eight states—Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee and California—have more than 5,000 voters driven from their homes as a result of the storm. To date, Louisiana has expended over $2.5 million in the restoration of voting machines and associated equipment alone. Yet the federal government has refused to do anything to help Louisiana implement its imminent local elections. The federal government has not provided a single dime to educate displaced Louisiana voters about the election, their right to vote, or how to vote.

The state has requested FEMA funds for the elections. FEMA has responded that it does not have the statutory authority to do so. The Stafford Act, however, clearly provides the statutory authority to FEMA to help with necessary election expenses incurred in the wake of a national disaster. Previously, in 1992, FEMA provided substantial aid to Miami-Dade County to overcome the obstacles of losing more than 100 polling places to Hurricane Andrew. FEMA also provided reimbursement for all of that county’s election expenses incurred as a result of Andrew. This is really not surprising. Secretary Ater had to threaten to sue FEMA just to get information on where the displaced voters are so he could send basic educational materials to them.

Congress has completely ignored a measure introduced by Representative Arthur Davis that would allow displaced voters the same rights and access to absentee ballots granted to overseas and military voters. After months of languishing, the Senate finally passed a bill last Thursday to provide $50 million to the Gulf Coast for implementation of elections—but it is entirely unclear whether the House will agree to it and whether the funds will actually get appropriated. After a while, one might cynically conjecture that perhaps there are certain parties who do not want these displaced New Orleans voters to participate in determining their own future.

Perhaps we should not be all that shocked. After all, this administration has not made a priority of ensuring fair and effective elections in the United States. Just this past week, the president’s budget failed to include any of the $859 million promised to the states by the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

The citizens of New Orleans have truly suffered enough. They deserve the right to cast meaningful ballots in an election that will determine the future course of their city and state in the years to come. It is up to Congress and the administration to make sure they do not suffer yet another indignity.

Tova Andrea Wang is a senior program officer and Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation.