(The Center Square) — With the November election coming up, Louisiana lawmakers passed several new absentee ballot laws that took effect on Aug. 1.
Absentee ballots are needed for college students living out of state, military members living outside the state, senior citizens with limited mobility and those who won’t be at home on Nov. 5.
The first new law affecting absentee ballots is Act 380 which states that no one person can send in more than one marked absentee ballot per election, unless they are an immediate family member of the absentee voter.
Having an immediate family member be the means of communication is a common theme for the new laws.
Act 302 says no person except the immediate family member of the voters, an employee of the registrar of voters, or the election division of the Department of State shall assist with the certificate of more than one voter.
This also means if you assist someone with an absentee ballot, like in a nursing home, you must sign it.
The Registrar of Voters also plans to keep a log of persons bringing in absentee ballots in person.
The act also says three other things: The witness to an absentee ballot shall be at least 18 years of age, each witness who signs an absentee by mail ballot shall provide his mailing address and one witness can’t certify more than one voter who is not an immediate family member. Those rules, however, don’t go into effect until July 1, 2025.
In the case of missing information on a ballot, like a voter’s signature, witness signature, or correct address, Louisiana now has a law to prevent that. Act 321 says any absentee by mail ballot with invalid information or parts of it not filled out will be challenged.
Each parish board of election supervisors will then determine if the ballot should be thrown out. If a challenge is sustained, the vote will not be counted.
The ballot or early voting confirmation sheet would then be placed in the special, secure absentee by mail and early voting ballot container and the board shall notify the voter in writing of the challenge, rejection and cause.
Many voter registrar’s offices will reach out to voters with absentee ballots incorrectly completed in an attempt to rectify the deficiency up and until the Nov. 4 deadline.
The deadline for offices to receive an absentee ballot is Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m.
