Louisiana voting issues

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Election and registration information

• ELECTION DAY VOTING HOURS: 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Voter ID requirements

When you go to the polls to cast your vote in an election, be sure to take one of the following:

• a driver's license,
• a Louisiana Special ID, or
• some other generally recognized picture ID that contains your name, address, and signature.

Voters who have no picture ID may bring a utility bill, payroll check or government document that includes their name and address but they will have to sign an affidavit furnished by the Elections Division in order to vote.

Voting machines

2008 election

For the 2008 election Louisiana used the following voting machines. For a county-by-county list of the specific machines (and the source for this section) see Verified Voting's Verifier tool.

Main article: Voting machines

Assistive Devices for Marking Paper Ballots

• AutoMARK Technical Systems AutoMARK VAT

Governmental election authorities

Secretary of State Jay Dardenne

Contact information:

• Louisiana Secretary of State
• P.O. Box 94125
• Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9125

• 922-0900 or 800-883-2805 * FAX: 922-0945

• email: elections@sos.louisiana.gov

Election threats

• November 4, 2008. Concerns about voter purges in Louisiana continue. The Louisiana State Democractic Party's attorney Randy Piedrahita testified before the state House and Governmental Affairs committee that Democrats are being disproportionately removed from voter rolls. The ratio of removal of Democrats ranged from 2 to 1 in some parishes to as high as 25 to 1; Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne denies that there is any organized effort to target Democratic registrations.
• October 31, 2008. The League of Women Voters of Louisiana warned that some people who registered at state Department of Motor Vehicles offices were not added to the voter rolls. "Incidents have been reported that indicate this problem may be statewide (Orleans Parish to North Louisiana)," stated a press release from the group. Kay Hodges, the commissioner of the Office of Motor Vehicles, responded that the registration process, while not flawless, is reliable and automated. The local registrar of voters, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office and the head of the Office of Motor Vehicles all state that any problems that may exist are isolated.
• October 30, 2008. 18,000 voters, mostly Democrats, were recently removed from the voter rolls in the weeks before the November election. According to a story in the The Advocate/WBRZ News, "In 2008, there have been 18,175 removals as a result of challenges and in 2007, there were 16,927. But in the year prior to that, there were 3,681 and in 2003 there were only 1,079."

State and local non-governmental election organizations

League of Women Voters

LWV of Louisiana, Mrs. Jean Armstrong, President

• 728 North Blvd.
• Baton Rouge, LA 70802-0000
• Phone: 225-344-3326
• Fax: 225-344-3326
• E-mail: lwvla@cox.net
• http://www.lwv-la.org

Local Leagues:

• Baton Rouge
• Caddo-Bossier
• Lafayette
• Lake Charles
• New Orleans
• Ruston-Grambling
• St. Tammany

Articles and resources

See also

• The main page on election protection and reform organizations.
• All articles in the Election Protection Wiki project.
• For election day: Things citizens can do to monitor elections and If you are told you cannot vote.

Election law

• Election Law @ Moritz's Louisiana page, which provides detailed information on election law developments in Louisiana. See map page to see the information for election developments in any given state.

• Election Law @ Moritz's Louisiana general information page, which provides information on Louisiana election authorities, post-election processes, and other topics. See map page to see this information for any given state.

External resources

Poll location

• GoVote.org locates your polling place and other voting information.
• Google map polling locations locates most polling location, may be missing or out of date.

Election Protection hotlines

• 866-OUR-VOTE (National Election Protection Hotline)
• 888-VE-Y-VOTA (Español)
• 800-966-5946 (AALDEF, Asian languages)
• 866-MYVOTE1 (Tom Joyner Hotline - VoterAction, NAACP National Voter Fund)
• 877-523-2792 (ACLU Voting Rights Project Hotline)
• 877-US4-OBAMA (Obama campaign Voter Hotline)
• 866-976-VOTE (McCain campaign Honest and Open Election hotline - leave a message)
• 877-GOCNN08 (CNN Voter Problem Tipline)
• 888-VOTE-TIP (VelvetRevolution Election Protection Hotline for fraud)
• 567-258-VOTE (Twitter Vote Report key in report or leave audio message)

Voting information

• Vote411.org from the League of Women Voters provides all kinds of information to help you vote.

Voting rights

• ACLU's "Know Your Voting Rights - State by State" -- printable brochures summarizing your voting rights, for most states.
• One-page know your rights summaries for 27 states from the AFL-CIO.

Voting requirements

• Click here to see the voter ID requirements in all states. From the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Election officials, election reform groups, and elected officials

• Why Tuesday? offers a page for Louisiana that helps locate Louisiana's elections officials, election reform groups, and elected officials, as well as a page titled Find a group in your area that lets you find similar information for other states.

Absentee voting

• Click here to request an absentee ballot. Go Vote Absentee is a project of the Women Donors Network.

Disabled voters

• Information for voters with disabilities from NDRN.

Student voting rights

• See Louisiana Student Voting Rights for a guide to student voting rights in Louisiana. See Student Voting Rights for a guide to other states. From the Brennan Center for Justice.

State ballot

• See how organizations you trust recommend you vote on ballot measures and other statewide contests at TransparentDemocracy.

Languages

• Help in other languages from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 中文, 日本語, 한국어, Tagalog, Tiếng Việt, Español

Voting machines

• Verified Voting's Louisiana page, which provides detailed information on voting equipment in use in every county in Louisiana.

• Just Vote '08's Louisiana Election Law Primer