Louisiana Secretary of State Elections Division

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EARLY VOTING - IN PERSON (R.S. 18:1303 )

Voters who want to vote early for any election may do so in person at their local Registrar of Voters office from twelve days to six days prior to any scheduled election. Refer to the Schedule of Elections for early voting time periods for upcoming elections.

When you go to the Registrar's office to cast your vote, be sure to take a driver's license, a Louisiana Special ID, or some other generally recognized picture ID. The Registrars will maintain regular office hours, remaining open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for each day of early voting. Click the Registrar of Voters office link to view a complete listing.

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ABSENTEE VOTING - BY MAIL (R.S. 18:1303 & R.S. 18:1307)

To request normal absentee ballots by mail, you must complete and return a Request for Absentee Ballot by Mail PDF form indicating the reason you are not able to vote in person absentee or in person on election day.

A request for a mail-in absentee ballot may be applied for by persons who:

are members of the United States Armed Service or a spouse or dependent;
are students, instructors, or professors in an institution of higher learning located outside of their parish of registration, and live outside of their parish, or spouses or dependents accompanying and residing therewith;
are ministers, priests, rabbis, or other members of the clergy assigned to a religious post outside of their parish of registration, or spouses or dependents accompanying and residing therewith;
are or expect to be temporarily outside the territorial limits of the state or outside of their parish of registration during the absentee voting period and on election day;
have moved their residences to another parish more than 100 miles from the parish seat of their former residence after voter registration books closed;
are involuntarily confined in an institution for mental treatment outside of their registration parish and who are not interdicted and not judicially declared incompetent;
are residing outside the United States;
expect to be hospitalized on election day and either were hospitalized or expect to be hospitalized during the early voting period, or did not learn that they would be hospitalized until after the early voting period expired, or were hospitalized and released but restricted to bed by their physician during the early voting period and on election day;
expect to be out of their precinct upon the waters of the state both during the early voting period and on election day because of their employment or occupation (e.g., working offshore);
are approved for the Special Handicap Program and are living at home, not in a nursing home; or
are incarcerated in an institution inside or outside their parish of registration and are not under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony.

Military personnel should check with their commanding officers who will provide the forms to request absentee ballots.

U.S. citizens residing overseas should send a request in writing to the registrar of voters office in the parish where they are registered to vote. All instructions on how to fill out the ballots and the requirements for mailing it back will be sent to overseas voters with the absentee ballots. The ballots requested are mailed at the Registrar of Voters expense. The return postage is paid by the voter.

The deadlines for returning your ballots to the Registrar of Voters office for an election are as follows:

For military personnel	Election Day
For U.S. citizens residing outside the United States	Election Day
For all others	Day before Election Day

Overseas Military personnel and U.S. citizens residing overseas will be voting on a special green absentee ballot for general elections.

If I request an absentee ballot by mail, will I be guaranteed to receive a ballot?

The registrar must verify that you are a qualified voter in order to send you a ballot. If your eligibility cannot be verified, then you will be notified in writing and you will not receive a ballot. Some reasons your request for an absentee ballot may be rejected are:

Your request for an absentee ballot was received too early; the earliest a request for an absentee ballot can be accepted is 60 days prior to the election.
Your request for an absentee ballot was received after the request deadline, which is four days before election day.
If you registered by mail and have not previously voted in the parish where you registered, you must vote in person either during the early voting period or at the precinct on election day.
You requested an absentee ballot from a parish or district/precinct where you are not registered to vote.
You registered after the voter registration books were closed 30 days prior to election day.
Your request for an absentee ballot was incomplete.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) web site provides information to U.S. citizens covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) -- those U.S. citizens who are members of the Uniformed Services and their family members, and U.S. citizens who reside outside the United States. Uniformed Services are defined as the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard), merchant marine, commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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ASSISTANCE TO VOTERS (R.S. 18:564 & 1310)

A voter is entitled to receive assistance while voting if he/she is (1) unable to read, or (2) unable to vote without assistance because of a physical handicap, including blindness. A voter must register as needing assistance and provide the proper documentation to the registrar or the election day poll worker.

Persons prohibited from assisting voters are as follows:

No candidate can assist a voter.
No employer or employer's agent can assist an employee.
No union agent can assist a union member.

With the exceptions as provided above, a voter who is entitled to assistance in voting may receive the assistance of any person of his choice. The person assisting the voter shall explain to the voter that a signature or mark made by the voter constitutes certification that all statements in the certificate are true and correct and that any person who knowingly provides false or incorrect statements is subject to fine or imprisonment, or both. (RS 18:564 and 18:1310)

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SPECIAL HANDICAPPED PROGRAM AND NURSING HOMES PROGRAM (R.S. 18:1321 et. seq.)

Voters who are physically unable to vote in person at the polls on election day and unable to vote in person at the registrar's office may be eligible for the Special Program for Physically Handicapped Voters. Call your parish Registrar of Voters office and ask for more details to see if you are eligible or view the Handicapped Voting Provisions page on this web site.

DISABLED VOTERS

Visibly disabled voters may go to the front of the line at their polling place or when voting early (RS 18:564(E).

The Handicapped Participation Guide for Participation in the Special Program for Physically Handicapped Voters - R.S. Title 18, Chapter 7A provides information as a guide for the election officials who are directly involved in the Special Program for Physically Handicapped Voters, for the individuals who wish to participate in the program, and for any other individual who may have an interest in the law. The special program was established by Acts 1983, No. 500, to enable certain physically handicapped voters the opportunity to participate in the electoral process. It will enable these voters to vote absentee by mail or in person at nursing homes if they meet the requirements set forth in Chapter 7A of the Louisiana Election Code.

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REGISTRATION

Voter Registration Page includes information on how and where to register to vote.
Registered voters are mailed a card with their Ward and Precinct Number and Polling Place.

WHERE TO VOTE

Polling Place Locator - If you do not know where to vote or to check your current ward and precinct, use the Polling Place Locator.

SCHEDULES

Schedule of Elections for Current, Future & Prior Years (1995 - 2008) includes dates and deadlines for registering to vote, absentee voting and qualifying for office.

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BALLOT INFORMATION

· View a Sample Precinct Ballot for the next election.

· Constitutional Amendments & Propositions may be on the ballot for statewide elections. Check here to read summaries and full texts.

· Machine Types Chart lists the types and number of voting machines in use for each parish.

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CANDIDATE INFORMATION

· Candidate Database includes the names, addresses and party affiliations of persons who have qualified for or withdrawn from upcoming elections, or who ran for office in previous elections (to 1987). It also includes propositions and amendments. This database does not include vote totals. [NOTE: Database will be off-line on Thursday mornings from 3 to 5 AM.]

· ZIP Files of All Candidates are dBase III compatible files and contain the names of all candidates for an election. The files are compressed using the ZIP format and are named using the mm/dd/yy format. For example, Cand100403.zip, contains data for the October 4, 2003 election. See FILE TYPES for information about ZIP and DBF file types.

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VOTER FRAUD

Voter Fraud Page gives information on reporting suspected voter fraud.

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Louisiana Secretary of State
Elections Division
P. O. Box 94125
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9125
Telephone: (225) 922-0900
E-MAIL: elections@sos.louisiana.gov

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