Voting Information

Find information on who can vote, how to register and how to cast your vote.

Change in Laws

Stay up-to-date on the recent changes to laws around registration and voting.

Voting & Election Coverage

Follow Verite News as they cover all things voting and election over the next months.



PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND LOUISIANA OPEN PRIMARY: NOVEMBER 5, 2024

Mark your calendar. Election Day is Saturday, December 7. Make sure to set a notification so you’re reminded in advance. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The deadline to register to vote for the Dec. 7 election was Nov. 16. But you can apply register to vote in future elections at the link below.

Find your polling place and view your sample ballot and other useful information by entering your name, birthdate and zip code on the Louisiana Secretary of State’s online Voter Portal.


To register to vote in Louisiana, you must:

  • Be a U.S. citizen
  • Be at least 17 years old to register online or by mail. Sixteen-year-olds may register in person. You must be at least 18 to vote. 
  • Live in the state and in the parish in which you want to register
  • Not be in prison on a felony conviction. If you are on probation or parole, you may vote if it has been at least five years since you were incarcerated.

The deadlines to vote in the Dec. 7, 2024 election has passed.


Louisiana residents can visit the Secretary of State’s GeauxVote Online Registration System to fill out an online application.

After completing the form, the person registering will be given the option to submit it online or print and mail it to your parish Registrar of Voters Office. The list of Registrar of Voters Offices, with mailing addresses, is available on the form.

Those who choose to submit the completed application online should make sure they have a valid Louisiana driver’s license or special identification card. You will need to enter the four-digit code marked “AUDIT” that appears on the ID. 

Residents can register in-person by stopping by visiting their parish Registrar of Voters Office or the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles. When registering in person, registrants must provide proof of their identity, age and residency. A valid driver’s license or state ID card is the easiest way to establish all three. If you do not have one, you can use a birth certificate or social security card, plus a photo ID and a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check or government document that includes your name and address.

Residents can also register at the following locations: 

  • Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services
  • WIC offices
  • Food stamp offices
  • Medicaid offices
  • Offices serving persons with disabilities such as the Deaf Action Centers and Independent Living Offices
  • Armed forces recruitment offices.

Election Day

On election day on Dec. 7, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Residents must vote at their designated polling place. Use the Louisiana Secretary of State’s website (sos.la.gov) to find yours. The state’s GeauxVote app is another free resource to access information about voting precincts, election dates, candidates and ballot measures. 

Voters should bring a photo ID card or United States military ID card to their voting precinct. Voters who do not have either can still vote by filling out an affidavit attesting to their identity, age and residence.

Visibly disabled voters and the people helping them can go to the front of the line on Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s office. A voter can also get help with voting if they cannot read or cannot vote without help from someone.

Early Voting

Everyone is eligible to vote early and can do so from 14 to seven days before an election. If one or more state holidays occur during a period of early voting, the first day to vote early will start 15 days before the election. The early voting window increases to 12 days during a presidential election and lasts from the 18th day to 7th day before the election. If there are one or more holidays during the early voting period of a presidential election year, early voting’s first day will start 19 days before the election.

Early voting for the Dec. 7 election runs Nov. 22 through Nov. 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Nov. 24, Nov. 28 and Nov. 29.

New Orleans residents may vote early at the following locations: 

  • City Hall, 1300 Perdido St., #1W24
  • Algiers Courthouse, 225 Morgan St., Rm#105
  • Voting Machine Warehouse, 8870 Chef Menteur Hwy. 
  • Lake Vista Community Center, 6500 Spanish Fort Blvd, 2nd Floor Meeting Room

Voters in other parishes can find the appropriate precincts for early voting on the Secretary of State’s website.

Absentee Voting

Unless absentee voters are enrolled in the military or the overseas absentee ballot program, they must provide a valid reason as to why they have voted this way, such as being over age 65 or having a physical disability.

The general public and applicants with disabilities have until 4:30 p.m. on the fourth day prior to Election Day to fill out an application for an absentee ballot. Military members and/or their dependents, overseas residents or hospitalized applicants have until 4:30 p.m. until the day before Election Day to request a ballot.

The deadline to return completed absentee ballots to the parish Registrar of Voters, for general and disabled voters, is 4:30 p.m. the day prior to Election Day. Military members and overseas or hospitalized voters must have their completed ballot in by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Orleans Parish School Board District 2

Read about this race in Verite News.

Read the Public Affairs Research Councils Guide to the 2024 Constitutional Amendments.

Louisiana State Constitutional Amendment 1: Makeup of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission

Do you support an amendment to allow the supreme court to sanction a judge upon an
investigation by the judiciary commission, and provide that the recommended sanction shall be
instituted by the judiciary commission or by a majority of the supreme court, and to provide for
the appointment of five members of the judiciary commission? (Amends Article V, Section 25(C);
adds Article V, Section 25(A)(4))

The nine-member Judiciary Commission investigates alleged misconduct by judges and recommends disciplinary measures to the Louisiana Supreme Court. If this amendment passes, the Supreme Court would be able to sanction judges under investigation before Judiciary Commission investigations — which can sometimes take years — are complete. Upon a majority vote, the Supreme Court could suspend judges from their judicial duties while investigations are ongoing. The amendment would also add five new members to the commission.

Louisiana State Constitutional Amendment 2: Waiting period for vote on budget bills

Do you support an amendment to require that the legislature wait for at least forty-eight hours
prior to concurring in a conference committee report or amendments to a bill appropriating
money?
(Adds Article III, Section 16(F))

If approved, this amendment would require that state lawmakers wait 48 hours after receiving state budget bills that have been amended, giving them a chance to read and understand major changes. Currently, legislative rules call for such a waiting period, but those rules can be waived with a majority vote. This amendment would make it a legal requirement. The waiting period would apply to the state House after receiving marked-up appropriations bills from the Senate or to both chambers after an appropriations bill has been amended by a conference committee.

Louisiana State Constitutional Amendment 3: Extending legislative sessions

Do you support an amendment to allow the legislature to extend a regular session in increments
of two days up to a maximum of six days if necessary to pass a bill appropriating money? (Amends
Article III, Sections 2(A)(3)(a) and (4)(a); Adds Article III, Section 2(A)(5))

If approved, this amendment would require that state lawmakers wait 48 hours after receiving state budget bills that have been amended, giving them a chance to read and understand major changes. Currently, legislative rules call for such a waiting period, but those rules can be waived with a majority vote. This amendment would make it a legal requirement. The waiting period would apply to the state House after receiving marked-up appropriations bills from the Senate or to both chambers after an appropriations bill has been amended by a conference committee.

Louisiana State Constitutional Amendment 4: Changing delinquent property tax recovery system

Do you support an amendment to eliminate mandatory tax sales for nonpayment of property
taxes and require the legislature to provide for such procedures by law; to limit the amount of
penalty and interest on delinquent property taxes; and to provide for the postponement of property
tax payments under certain circumstances? (Amends Article VII, Section 25)

Under current law, when a property owner is declared delinquent on property taxes, the local government can seize the property and put it up for a tax sale. The delinquent taxpayer then has three years to pay off the taxes and reclaim the property before the tax sale buyer can take possession. This amendment would instead allow local governments to place a lien on the property, and the lien could be sold at auction. It would also extend the reclamation period.

Voters and voter registration groups should be aware that several changes have been made to voter registration and absentee voting by the state legislature this year.

One such change prohibits third-party groups from registering voters without signing up with the Secretary of State’s website. This is Act 701 and went into effect Aug. 1.

Under pre-existing law, immediate family members of a voter were allowed to submit their absentee ballot by mail or in person. If submitting in person, the law only allowed the family member to submit one ballot per election. Act 380 extends the one-per-election limit to mailed-in ballots. (Beginning in 2025, Act 317 will prohibit people from submitting more than one application for an absentee ballot per election on behalf of a voter.)   

Act 302 states that 18 is the minimum age to witness an absentee ballot. No one can act as a witness to more than one ballot unless acting on behalf of an immediate family member. 

Act 321 states that an absentee ballot missing necessary information will be considered a challenged ballot. If a challenge is sustained, the vote will not be counted. 

On Aug. 26, Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order stating that noncitizens cannot vote, which has been in the state constitution since 2022.


Thank you for the support from…

Democracy Day is a nationwide collaborative reporting project helmed by the Center for Cooperative Media. It got its start ahead of the midterms in 2022 and was launched as an effort to encourage news organizations across the country to report more — and better— information about the crisis facing democracy here.