LOUISIANA

Election Information

Upcoming Elections

General Congressional Special Election (1st and 6th districts): 5/3/08 

2008 General Election: 11/4/08

Voter Registration Information

The Lawyers’ Committee and its pro bono law firm partners have compiled comprehensive third-party voter registration guides for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  These guides will help volunteers, organizers, and leaders navigate the complex rules that govern voter registration in each state. 

Registration Deadlines

30 days before an election

Specific Deadlines:

  • 2008 General Election: 10/5/08

Where to Obtain Voter Registration Form

  • Register Online Now 
  • Download registration form
  • Department of Motor Vehicles
  • Department of Social Services offices and WIC offices
  • Food Stamp offices
  • Medicaid Offices
  • Offices serving people with disabilities
  • Armed Forces Recruitment Offices

Absentee Voting

Absentee voting is allowed if the voter is:

  • A student, instructor, or professor in an institution of higher learning located outside the parish in which he is qualified to vote and who lives outside of said parish by reason thereof, and his spouse and any dependent accompanying and residing with him.
  • A minister, priest, rabbi, or other member of the clergy assigned to a religious post outside the parish in which he is registered and his spouse and any dependents accompanying and residing with him.
  • Temporarily outside the territorial limits of the state or absent from the parish in which he is qualified to vote during the early voting period and on Election Day.
  • A person who, after the registration books have closed as required by R.S. 18:135, has moved his residence to another parish and the new residence is more than one hundred miles from the parish seat of the parish of his former residence, in which case he may vote absentee by mail in the parish of his former residence.
  • Involuntarily confined in an institution for mental treatment outside the parish in which he is qualified to vote, who is not interdicted and not judicially declared incompetent.
  • A sequestered jury member.
  • Otherwise qualified to vote, who expects to be hospitalized on Election Day and who was hospitalized during the time for early voting
  • Either hospitalized or restricted to his bed by his physician during early voting and is restricted to his bed by his physician on Election Day
  • Employed upon state waters.
  • Approved for participation in the Special Handicapped Program
  • Incarcerated and not under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony
  • A member of the Armed Forces or a spouse or dependent of a member of the Armed forces
  • A U.S. citizen living overseas who will be at least 18 years of age before the next General Election and whose last residence prior to going overseas was in LA

Rules and Deadlines

  • Absentee ballots can be found with the Registrar of Voters.
  • They must be returned to the Registrar of Voters.
  • Ballot must be received by the day before an Election Day, except for military personnel or U.S. citizens residing outside the U.S. who must return completed ballots by Election Day.

Early Voting

Yes, for all voters at their parish Registrar of Voters from 14 days before the election to 7 days before an election.

Identification Requirements

At polls:

  • Louisiana driver’s license;
  • Louisiana special ID card; or
  • Other generally recognized picture identification.

How to check registration

Contact your Parish Registrar of Voter’s Office

How to locate polling place

Check online

Information for felons

Voter is eligible to register if not under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony.


For more information, go to the Secretary of State’s website.
Learn about Third Party Voter Registration in Louisiana.

Recent News

September 18, 2006: Early voting for the September 30, 2006 elections in New Orleans will be conducted from September 18-23 at the Old Algiers Courthouse and New Orleans City Hall.

Voters who are displaced may also vote by mail-in absentee ballot, by faxing in their absentee ballot, or by having their ballot delivered by courier. Written requests for mail-in ballots and waivers of secreat ballot must be received by the Registar of Voter no later than 4:30 p.m. on September 29, 2006. However their is an exception for military personnel, whose ballots will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. on Election Day.

For more information, contact the Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.

Election Protection: The National Campaign for Fair Elections helped lead an Election Protection program in New Orleans this spring for the city’s primary and general elections.

Learn more about our Orleans Parish Election Protection program.