Changes

Boucher did not seek a fourth term in 1952 and was succeeded in the state senate by John Jones Doles, Sr. (1895-1970), a banker from Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish, who served from 1952 to 1956 during the administration of Governor [[Robert F. Kennon]] of Minden. Doles was usually allied with the Long faction. From 1956 to 1960, Boucher was a member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee. He was an alternate delegate to the 1956 [[Democratic National Convention]] in [[Chicago]], which nominated [[Adlai Stevenson]] of [[Illinois]] and [[Estes Kefauver]] of [[Tennessee]], the first Democratic ticket since 1876 to lose Louisiana's then ten [[electoral vote]]s to a Republican, [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bosa-bouckaert.html|title=The Political Graveyard|publisher=Politicalgraveyard.com|accessdate=June 23, 2009}}</ref> Boucher served on the Louisiana State Mineral Board (1956–1958), the Louisiana Commission on Aging (1958), Louisiana Insurance Rating Board (1959–1960), and the Louisiana Contractors’ Licensing Board (1960–1963).<ref name=bobit/>

Boucher did not seek a fourth term in 1952 and was succeeded in the state senate by John Jones Doles, Sr. (1895-1970), a banker from Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish, who served from 1952 to 1956 during the administration of Governor [[Robert F. Kennon]] of Minden. Doles was usually allied with the Long faction. From 1956 to 1960, Boucher was a member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee. He was an alternate delegate to the 1956 [[Democratic National Convention]] in [[Chicago]], which nominated [[Adlai Stevenson]] of [[Illinois]] and [[Estes Kefauver]] of [[Tennessee]], the first Democratic ticket since 1876 to lose Louisiana's then ten [[electoral vote]]s to a Republican, [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bosa-bouckaert.html|title=The Political Graveyard|publisher=Politicalgraveyard.com|accessdate=June 23, 2009}}</ref> Boucher served on the Louisiana State Mineral Board (1956–1958), the Louisiana Commission on Aging (1958), Louisiana Insurance Rating Board (1959–1960), and the Louisiana Contractors’ Licensing Board (1960–1963).<ref name=bobit/>

Boucher was personally and politically close to Governor Earl Long, who sometimes visited in the Boucher home in Springhill. In 1958, Long appointed Boucher to fill the newly established position of director of the state Board of Registration. The title was changed thereafter to “custodian of voting machines”.<ref name=bobit/> The duties of elections administration were removed by the legislature at Long’s insistence to a separate department from the office of then anti-Long Secretary of State Wade Omer Martin, Jr. (1911-1990). After a year, Long replaced Boucher in the position with [[Douglas Fowler]], a local politician in Coushatta in Red River Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/157/Default.aspx|title=Three Custodians in Four Years|publisher=Louisiana.gov|accessdate=June 24, 2009}}</ref> Years later, another Louisiana secretary of state, [[Al Ater]] of Ferriday in Concordia Parish, reversed the process begun by Boucher and returned the elections duties back to the secretary of state's office after the separate elections department was abolished.

Boucher was personally and politically close to Governor Earl Long, who sometimes visited in the Boucher home in Springhill. In 1958, Long appointed Boucher to fill the newly established position of director of the state Board of Registration. The title was changed thereafter to “custodian of voting machines.”<ref name=bobit/> The duties of elections administration were removed by the legislature at Long’s insistence to a separate department from the office of then anti-Long Secretary of State Wade Omer Martin, Jr. (1911-1990). After a year, Long replaced Boucher in the position with [[Douglas Fowler]], a local politician from Coushatta in Red River Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/157/Default.aspx|title=Three Custodians in Four Years|publisher=Louisiana.gov|accessdate=June 24, 2009}}</ref> Years later, another Louisiana secretary of state, [[Al Ater]] of Ferriday in Concordia Parish, reversed the process begun by Boucher and returned the elections duties back to the secretary of state's office after the separate elections department was abolished.

Long named Douglas Fowler as the custodian of voting machines because Boucher did not intend to seek the position in the 1959–1960 election cycle. Long, who ran for lieutenant governor that year on an intra-party ticket with former interim Governor James Albert Noe, Sr. (1890-1976) of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], wanted one of his appointees to be on the ballot for the first election for custodian of voting machines. Fowler won the post in a Democratic runoff primary and held it until his pending retirement and subsequent death in 1980; Fowler was succeeded by his son, [[Jerry Fowler]]. In 1976, the name of the position was changed again to the "elections commissioner," now an appointed position.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/157/Default.aspx|title=Elections Mission and History|publisher=sos.louisiana.gov|accessdate=August 6, 2009}}</ref>​

Long named Douglas Fowler as the custodian of voting machines because Boucher did not intend to seek the position in the 1959–1960 election cycle. Long, who ran for lieutenant governor that year on an intra-party ticket with former interim Governor James Albert Noe, Sr. (1890-1976) of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], wanted one of his appointees to be on the ballot for the first election for custodian of voting machines. Fowler won the post in a Democratic runoff primary and held it until his pending retirement and subsequent death in 1980; Fowler was succeeded by his son, [[Jerry Fowler]]. In 1976, the name of the position was changed again to the "elections commissioner," now an appointed position.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/157/Default.aspx|title=Elections Mission and History|publisher=sos.louisiana.gov|accessdate=August 6, 2009}}</ref>​