Louisiana | Voting Guide

Voter Registration Deadline:

• For paper/mail-in applications: 30 days before Election Day

• For online voter registration: 20 days before Election Day

2020

• Presidential Preference Primary Mail-In and In-Person Registration Deadline: June 10

• Presidential Preference Primary Online Registration Deadline: June 20

• Presidential Preference Primary Election: July 11

• Presidential General and Open Primary Mail-In and In-Person Registration Deadline: October 5

• Presidential General and Open Primary Online Registration Deadline: October 13

• Presidential General and Open Primary Election: November 3

• Congressional General Election Mail-In and In-Person Registration Deadline: November 4

• Congressional General Election Online Registration Deadline: November 14

• Congressional General Election: December 5

• More election information at www.geauxvote.com

• Online voter registration available at http://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Pages/OnlineVoterRegistration.aspx      

• Mail-in voter registration form available at https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/PublishedDocuments/ApplicationToRegisterToVote.pdf

Students have a choice about where to register to vote.

Students attending college may register at their campus address or choose to remain registered or register at their permanent or home address.

You may only be registered and vote in one location.

Louisiana’s voter registration form asks for your Louisiana driver’s license or state ID card number, or the last four digits of your Social Security Number. Be sure to provide one of these numbers on your registration application. You must have a Louisiana driver’s license or ID number to register online.

Louisiana law requires in-person voters to present photo ID, though voters who lack acceptable ID may sign a Voter Identification Affidavit. Acceptable forms of photo ID include:

• Louisiana driver’s license;

• Louisiana special identification card;

• LA Wallet digital driver’s license;

• Military ID that contains the voter’s name and photograph; or

• Another generally recognized picture ID card that contains the voter’s name and signature.

Make a plan. Look up your voting site and hours at: https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/ 

2020

For the November 3 and December 5, 2020 elections, voters will be able to cast an absentee ballot if they meet one of the excuses provided by law (see below) or if they are:

• At higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 due to serious underlying medical conditions as identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (including chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, hypertension or other serious heart conditions, diabetes, undergoing chemotherapy, severe obesity (BMI of 40 or higher), chronic kidney disease and undergoing dialysis, liver disease, pregnancy, or immunocompromised due to cancer treatment, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, and prolonged use of corticosteroids and other immune weakening medications);

• Subject to a medically necessary quarantine or isolation order as a result of COVID-19;

• Advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns;

• Experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis; or

• Caring for an individual who is subject to a medically necessary quarantine or isolation order as a result of COVID-19 or who has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns.

Voters meeting one of these excuses may request an absentee ballot online at https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/ or by submitting an application to their parish registrar’s office. Absentee ballot applications and additional information about voting by mail are available at https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Vote/VoteByMail/Pages/default.aspx.

Voters will also be able to vote early in person beginning October 16 (for the November 3 election) and November 20 (for the December 5 election). 

For more information, visit: https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Vote/VoteEarly/Pages/default.aspx.

By Mail

Louisiana requires an excuse to vote by mail. Voters may cast a ballot by mail if they:

• Are a student, instructor, or professor living outside their parish of registration;

• Are 65 years of age or older;

• Are or expect to be temporarily outside of Louisiana or their parish during the early voting period and on Election Day;

• Work or expect to be offshore during the early voting period and on Election Day;

• Have a physical disability;

• Are a member of the clergy assigned outside their parish of registration, or the spouse/dependent thereof;

• Have moved more than 100 miles from the parish of their former residence after the registration books close (30 days prior to an election);

• Are involuntarily confined in an institution for mental treatment outside their parish of registration and have not judicially been declared incompetent;

• Expect to be hospitalized on Election Day and did not have knowledge of the hospitalization until after the early voting period has ended, or were hospitalized or confined to their bed during early voting and expect to remain hospitalized or confined to their bed on Election Day;

• Are or expect to be incarcerated and are not confined pursuant to a felony conviction;

• Are a participant in the Secretary of State’s Address Confidentiality Program; or

• Will be sequestered on the day of the election for jury duty.

Voters who have a physical disability or who are homebound and require assistance to vote may apply for an absentee ballot using the Disabled Application for Absentee By Mail Ballot. If you qualify to vote under this excuse, you will need to submit proof of disability and, if you submit your request by mail, a copy of photo ID or the names and addresses for two people who reside in your precinct and who could make an oath, if required, that you have a physical disability. 

Homebound voters must submit a physician’s letter as proof of disability. More information is available on the Secretary of State’s website at https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Vote/VoteByMail/Pages/default.aspx.

The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is 4:30 p.m. on the 4th day before Election Day, except for hospitalized, overseas, and military voters, who have until 4:30 p.m. the day before Election Day to submit their requests. You may request a ballot online or submit an application by mail to your parish registrar of voters.

Completed vote by mail ballots must be returned and received by the parish registrar of voters by 4:30 p.m. on the day before Election Day.

Early In Person

Any registered voter may vote early in person without an excuse.

Early voting begins 14 days before Election Day and ends 7 days before Election Day. You may vote early at your Parish Registrar of Voters Office from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Some parishes set up additional early voting sites.

All early voting locations can be found online before each election at: https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/EarlyVoting.

Election Day

Voting sites will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. For Saturday elections, voting sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If you are in line by close of polls, then you have a right to vote.

Registering to Vote Does Not Affect Your:

Federal Financial Aid

Where you register to vote will not affect federal financial aid such as Pell Grants, Perkins or Stafford loans, or your dependency status for FAFSA.

Status as a Dependent on Your Parents’ Taxes

Being registered to vote at a different address from your parents does not prevent them from claiming you as a dependent on their taxes.

Tuition Status

Being deemed out-of-state for tuition purposes does not prevent you from choosing to register to vote in your campus community.

Will registering to vote in Louisiana affect my driver’s license or car registration?

Registering to vote in Louisiana may require you to update your driver’s license and car registration, regardless of whether you register to vote there. For more information, you may wish to contact the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles.

Fair Elections Center and Campus Vote Project intend the information contained herein to be used only as a general guide. This document should not be used as a substitute for consultation with a licensed Louisiana legal professional.

Last updated September 2020