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In 1971, Fowler won Democratic re-nomination over several candidates, including '''Jerome Sauer''', who raised questions about the validity of voting machines in providing an accurate voter count.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' November 6, 1971.</ref> Fowler then faced only his second Republican opponent, Edward Wilhelm Christiansen, Jr.(November 10, 1923 – August 28, 2014), a native of [[Savannah]], [[Georgia]], and a retired [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] [[lieutenant colonel]] who had volunteered for the [[United States Army]] Air Corps during [[World War II]]. He flew more than twenty missions as a [[Martin B-26 Marauder|B-26]] pilot in the European Theater of Operations. After the war, Christiansen flew 121 missions as a transport pilot in the [[Berlin Airlift]]. He was thereafter a fighter pilot in Germany. On leaving the military, Christiansen worked in the hotel/tourism business. For twenty years he was a manager and part-owner of the Saint Charles Inn on [[St. Charles Avenue]] in New Orleans.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://obits.nola.com/obituaries/nola/obituary.aspx?n=edward-wilhelm-christiansen&pid=172301343&fhid=5630#sthash.UufX79qn.dpuf|title=Edward Wilhelm Christiansen, Jr.|publisher=''The New Orleans Times-Picayune''|accessdate=August 31, 2014}}</ref>
In 1971, Fowler won Democratic re-nomination over several candidates, including '''Jerome Sauer''', who raised questions about the validity of voting machines in providing an accurate voter count.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' November 6, 1971.</ref> Fowler then faced only his second Republican opponent, Edward Wilhelm Christiansen, Jr.(November 10, 1923 – August 28, 2014), a native of [[Savannah]], [[Georgia]], and a retired [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] [[lieutenant colonel]] who had volunteered for the [[United States Army]] Air Corps during [[World War II]]. He flew more than twenty missions as a [[Martin B-26 Marauder|B-26]] pilot in the European Theater of Operations. After the war, Christiansen flew 121 missions as a transport pilot in the [[Berlin Airlift]]. He was thereafter a fighter pilot in Germany. On leaving the military, Christiansen worked in the hotel/tourism business. For twenty years he was a manager and part-owner of the Saint Charles Inn on [[St. Charles Avenue]] in New Orleans.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://obits.nola.com/obituaries/nola/obituary.aspx?n=edward-wilhelm-christiansen&pid=172301343&fhid=5630#sthash.UufX79qn.dpuf|title=Edward Wilhelm Christiansen, Jr.|publisher=''The New Orleans Times-Picayune''|accessdate=August 31, 2014}}</ref>
Christiansen was also a former [[mathematics]] instructor at [[Tulane University]] in New Orleans. He was a delegate to the 1972 Republican National Convention held in MIami Beach, [[Florida]]. In the campaign against Fowler, Christiansen proposed that modern electronic voting devices be adopted to replace what he called "bulky, heavy, cumbersome, cantankerous" voting machines in use since the administration of [[Governor]] [[Robert F. Kennon]]. Voting machines, often called "Shoup machines" for their inventor, Ransom Shoup, were used in some of the more populous parishes, including East Baton Rouge, Caddo, and Calcasieu prior to the Kennon administration, but it was Kennon who pushed for electronic machines in all precincts.
Christiansen was also a former [[mathematics]] instructor at [[Tulane University]] in New Orleans. He was a delegate to the 1972 Republican National Convention held in MIami Beach, [[Florida]]. In the campaign against Fowler, Christiansen proposed that modern electronic voting devices be adopted to replace what he called "bulky, heavy, cumbersome, cantankerous" voting machines in use since the administration of Governor [[Robert F. Kennon]]. Voting machines, often called "Shoup machines" for their inventor, Ransom Shoup, were used in some of the more populous parishes, including East Baton Rouge, Caddo, and Calcasieu prior to the Kennon administration, but it was Kennon who pushed for electronic machines in all precincts.
Christiansen ran on the Republican slate headed by gubernatorial candidate [[David C. Treen]], then of Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans. While Treen obtained 42.8 percent of the vote against Democrat [[Edwin Edwards]], Christiansen polled only 265,525 votes (25.5 percent). The entrenched Fowler received 721,987 votes (71.7 percent), and the American Party nominee Louis D. Arnaud drew 28,413 votes (2.8 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, February 1, 1972.</ref>
Christiansen ran on the Republican slate headed by gubernatorial candidate [[David C. Treen]], then of Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans. While Treen obtained 42.8 percent of the vote against Democrat [[Edwin Edwards]], Christiansen polled only 265,525 votes (25.5 percent). The entrenched Fowler received 721,987 votes (71.7 percent), and the American Party nominee Louis D. Arnaud drew 28,413 votes (2.8 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, February 1, 1972.</ref>
Under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, the office of "custodian of voting machines" was renamed "elections commissioner." Fowler won a final term in the 1975 nonpartisan blanket primary, and then, in 1980, shortly after his death, the office reverted to his son. Jerry Fowler won the 1979 [[general election]] over the Republican [[John Henry Baker]] of Franklin Parish, whose somewhat unusual campaign called for the abolition of the election commissioner's position and the return of the duties to the secretary of state. Baker's proposal, defeated at the polls, was finally adopted a quarter of a century later in 2004. Baker drew the support of former state Representative and state Senator Robert Gambrell "Bob" Jones of Lake Charles, whose father both Long and Fowler had worked to defeat in 1948.
Under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, the office of "custodian of voting machines" was renamed "elections commissioner." Fowler won a final term in the 1975 nonpartisan blanket primary, and then, in 1980, shortly after his death, the office reverted to his son. Jerry Fowler won the 1979 [[general election]] over the Republican [[John Henry Baker]] of Franklin Parish, whose somewhat unusual campaign called for the abolition of the election commissioner's position and the return of the duties to the secretary of state. Baker's proposal, defeated at the polls, was finally adopted a quarter of a century later in 2004. Baker drew the support of former state Representative and state Senator Robert Gambrell "Bob" Jones of Lake Charles, whose father both Long and Fowler had worked to defeat in 1948.
Fowler and his friend, former state Senator B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn, Sr., of Bogalusa in Washington Parish, were two Earl Long "cronies" who survived in office far beyond the Long gubernatorial terms, which closed in 1960. Rayburn recalled that he and Fowler "toured the state together with Earl Long in Long's comeback campaign for a third term in 1956. He was a very close, dear friend of mine. ... He was just a fine a man as I have ever known." Earl Long's nephew, then U.S. Senator [[Russell Long]], said that "few people can claim to have served their state harder, more faithfully, and for a longer period than Doug Fowler. As commissioner of elections, he was an exemplary state official who won reelection time after time."
Fowler and his friend, former state Senator B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn, Sr., of Bogalusa in Washington Parish, were two Earl Long "cronies" who survived in office far beyond the Long gubernatorial terms, which closed in 1960. Rayburn recalled that he and Fowler "toured the state together with Earl Long in Long's comeback campaign for a third term in 1956. He was a very close, dear friend of mine. ... He was just a fine a man as I have ever known." Earl Long's nephew, then U.S. Senator [[Russell Long]], said that "few people can claim to have served their state harder, more faithfully, and for a longer period than Doug Fowler. As commissioner of elections, he was an exemplary state official who won reelection time after time."
Jerry Fowler, meanwhile, later ran afoul of the law, was defeated for a sixth term in the 1999 primary, and served time in a federal prison in [[Texas]] for [[bribery]] and [[income tax evasion]]. Jerry Fowler's second wife, Mari Ann, disappeared one Christmas weekend when she went to visit her husband in prison, was never located, and has been declared legally dead.
Jerry Fowler, meanwhile, later ran afoul of the law, was defeated for a sixth term in the 1999 primary, and served time in a federal prison in [[Texas]] for [[bribery]] and [[income tax evasion]]. Jerry Fowler's second wife, Mari Ann, disappeared one Christmas weekend when she went to visit her husband in prison, was never located, and has been declared legally dead.