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LouisianaHB 5922025 Regular SessionHouse

ELECTION CODE: Makes revisions to the Louisiana Election Code

Sponsored By: Gerald "Beau" Beaullieu IV (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Senate and Governmental AffairsHouse and Governmental Affairs

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

24 provisions identified: 10 benefits, 6 costs, 8 mixed.

Party primary access depends on affiliation

Party-primary candidates must belong to their major party when qualifying, and affiliated voters can vote only for their party’s candidates. Unaffiliated voters can select one major-party primary ballot for party-primary offices, but cannot vote in another party’s primary. Presidential preference primaries are different: unaffiliated voters cannot participate, even if party bylaws allow it. Candidates outside the major parties can qualify for the general election during the party-primary qualifying period. They must meet petition requirements, including requirements for signers who are not affiliated with a major party.

Nursing home voting applications stay valid

Qualifying nursing-home early-voting applications remain valid without an end date. They stop being valid after a written removal request, an undeliverable program letter, or departure from the listed home. Voters moving to another nursing home in the same parish can keep their application by notifying the registrar in writing. If a program letter returns as undeliverable, the registrar must mail an address-confirmation notice.

Returning voters lose registration restoration deadline

Voters returning to a former parish no longer face a three-year deadline to restore prior registration information. This applies when registration was canceled because the voter registered in another parish or state. The voter must apply again, and the registrar must find the voter qualified to register there.

Unaffiliated voters can switch absentee primaries

Beginning August 1, 2025, unaffiliated voters can replace an absentee ballot with one for a different major party’s first primary. This applies to offices filled through party primaries. The voter must have received the original ballot, and it must not have been cast and returned to the registrar.

Election boards post results and review challenges

After polls close, parish boards must post mail and early-voting totals for each candidate and proposition. They must also post each early-voting machine’s results, except when covered ballot challenges prevent posting. At least a majority of the board must hear and decide the validity of the specified challenged ballots. The Secretary of State can direct access to sealed mail and early-voting records for a post-election vote-count audit. Ordinary inspection restrictions otherwise remain in place before the election-contest filing period expires.

Emergency polling changes help voting continue

An emergency or disaster before or during an election can trigger polling-place changes. The clerk of court, working with the secretary of state, must find a site destroyed, inaccessible, or unsafe. The secretary can certify an emergency and approve moving, combining, or adding polling places within a precinct. This does not require a governor’s order to suspend or delay voting. Local officials carry out the changes and must notify affected voters and candidates as required by law.

More ways to watch election work

Recognized parties can name one to five alternate super watchers, based on the parish’s registered-voter population. Alternates and their related super watchers cannot serve simultaneously, and the parish’s existing simultaneous-service limit still applies. Candidates or their representatives can observe early-voting machine preparation and testing. Each observer gets at least 30 minutes to view each machine’s test vote tape. Observers cannot interfere with election staff or take over their duties.

Proposition elections reuse primary poll workers

The law sets a staffing rule for proposition elections called under R.S. 18:1284 and held on a general election date. It applies when fewer commissioners are needed than were chosen for the primary. Officials must select the needed commissioners from those who worked at that precinct during the primary.

Special election scheduling gains more flexibility

A special primary’s four-week proclamation deadline moves to the next non-holiday weekday when it falls on a weekend or legal holiday. A separate emergency process covers vacancies in offices filled through party primaries. It applies when appointment, designation, and regular election dates cannot fill the vacancy within required time limits. After the governor declares an emergency, the authorized official can set dates outside normal timing rules. That official must consult the secretary of state and receive certification; designated spring and fall dates also apply.

Voters get clearer propositions and recall labels

The group calling an election must write propositions in simple, unbiased, concise, and easily understood language. The Secretary of State checks that each proposition is a question of no more than 200 words. Propositions cannot include struck-through, underlined, or boldface words. Recall ballots must say “SPECIAL ELECTION FOR THE RECALL OF,” followed by the officer’s name, title, and election district.

Voters see standardized candidate ballot order

Beginning August 1, 2025, party-primary ballots list parties alphabetically and offices in a set order. Candidates appear alphabetically by surname under each office. The Secretary of State can place presidential nominees above same-party candidates and party offices after party-primary offices or all offices. Candidates nominated by petition or notice are ordered using the first word of their stated political principle.

Early voters face registration record checks

During early voting, election staff check voters against the statewide registration system and record their participation. Voters listed as inactive must complete an address-confirmation card so the registrar can determine eligibility. After voting ends, commissioners must send precinct voter-assistance forms to the registrar. Registrars must process those forms and scan them into each voter’s state registration record.

Election challengers face filing and testimony limits

Challenges to constitutional-amendment elections cannot be filed before the day after the election. They must be filed by 4:30 p.m. on the tenth day after the Secretary of State officially publishes results. In candidacy objections, the Secretary of State and covered Department of State staff cannot be forced to appear in court. A properly executed affidavit from the secretary or a designee is sufficient to confirm Department records instead of live testimony.

Clerks can enforce polling place campaign rules

Clerks of court join election officials and law enforcement in enforcing polling-place restrictions on campaigning and related conduct. Officials can seize, remove, and destroy political cards, signs, pictures, or literature used or displayed illegally.

Early voting watchers face tighter rules

People required to register as sex offenders or child predators cannot serve as early-voting watchers. Beginning August 1, 2025, watcher lists are due by 4:30 p.m. on the fourteenth business day before early voting. This covers party-primary, primary, and general elections; weekend or holiday deadlines move to the next non-holiday weekday. Reusing a list for a later covered election requires written notice from the parish party executive committee chairman. That notice is due by 4:30 p.m. on the tenth business day before early voting.

Election workers face updated service rules

Alternate election commissioners must meet the same qualifications as commissioners. An alternate who does not replace an absent or unqualified commissioner has only a watcher’s powers and duties. Parish boards must select commissioners and alternates on the second day after registration records close. If that day is a legal holiday, selection moves to the next day that is neither a weekend nor a holiday.

False election statements carry perjury penalties

People who intentionally make false written statements in attestations required by Louisiana’s Election Code face perjury charges. Upon conviction, they face the penalties set by state perjury law, R.S. 14:123.

Mail voters get replacements and request rules

Voters notified of a mail-ballot certificate problem that must be fixed can obtain a replacement ballot from the registrar. The registrar can hand-deliver it to the voter or an immediate family member. Beginning August 1, 2025, voters must separately request absentee ballots for a party primary and its following general election. Registrars cannot send closed-primary absentee ballots to voters ineligible for that primary.

New signing and name rules for voters

Voter registration applications require handwritten attestations, and false statements can lead to perjury charges. Married applicants can use either spouse’s surname, both surnames, or a hyphenated name. Divorced, widowed, or remarried applicants can also use a former, deceased, or present spouse’s surname. Court-ordered name changes require a certified judgment plus acceptable identification or an attestation; marriage-related changes require an application with identification information or an attestation. Voters who can no longer sign without a mark must file an attestation explaining why.

Annual voter address checks get clearer rules

Parish registrars must review voter names and addresses each year by June 30, working with the Department of State. The department uses address data obtained through written agreements with other states, federal agencies, or private vendors. For a corrected address inside the parish, officials update the record and mail a new voter card and confirmation notice. If the card comes back and the voter does not return the notice, officials restore the old address. For an address outside the parish, officials leave the record unchanged and send a confirmation notice.

Candidates face set primary withdrawal deadlines

First party-primary candidates must withdraw before 4:30 p.m. on the seventh day after qualifying closes. General-election candidates for party-primary offices must withdraw before 4:30 p.m. on the ninth day after the second-primary date. That deadline applies even when no second primary is held. In covered elections with one more remaining candidate than seats, withdrawal is allowed until before 4:30 p.m. two days before early voting. Withdrawal notices must be signed and formally acknowledged before an officer authorized to administer oaths.

Election calendars avoid holidays and weekends

Louisiana cannot hold elections during the three days after Thanksgiving. Fall elections on prohibited dates move to the same weekday one week earlier; spring elections move one week later. Election-notice transmission deadlines falling on weekends or legal holidays move to the next non-holiday weekday. The same extension covers notice-and-certificate deadlines for elections held on primary dates. Recall-election proclamation deadlines also receive this extension after enough qualified voters sign the petition.

Polling sites can combine staff and machines

Precincts with 1,001–1,800 registered voters must receive at least three voting machines; those above 1,800 must receive four. Registration counts are measured 30 days before the election. Parish boards can combine polling places when several precincts already share one location, including for stand-alone proposition elections. At combined sites, boards can reduce machines and staffing, keeping at least two commissioners and alternates in total. One commissioner-in-charge serves all precincts at the combined site.

Voter list checks use shared data

The Secretary of State can make written data-sharing agreements with government agencies and qualifying private vendors for voter-list maintenance. Agreements must protect privacy under state and federal law. The Department of State must use qualifying address data to check voter names and addresses; this counts as a valid canvass. Data transmitted under these agreements is exempt from the specified public-inspection rules.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Gerald "Beau" Beaullieu IV

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 204 • No: 30

House vote • 6/10/2025

Read by title, roll called, yeas 82, nays 9, Senate amendments concurred in.

Yes: 82 • No: 9

Senate vote • 6/9/2025

The amended bill was read by title, passed by a vote of 38 yeas and 1 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

Yes: 38 • No: 1

House vote • 4/28/2025

Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 75, nays 16. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

Yes: 75 • No: 16

House vote • 4/16/2025

Reported with amendments

Yes: 9 • No: 4

Actions Timeline

  1. Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 386.

    6/20/2025House

  2. Effective date: See Act.

    6/20/2025House

  3. Signed by the President of the Senate.

    6/12/2025Senate

  4. Sent to the Governor for executive approval.

    6/12/2025House

  5. Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.

    6/11/2025House

  6. Read by title, roll called, yeas 82, nays 9, Senate amendments concurred in.

    6/10/2025House

  7. Rules suspended. Called from the Calendar.

    6/9/2025Senate

  8. The amended bill was read by title, passed by a vote of 38 yeas and 1 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

    6/9/2025Senate

  9. Received from the Senate with amendments.

    6/9/2025House

  10. Scheduled for concurrence on 06/10/2025.

    6/9/2025House

  11. Read by title and returned to the Calendar, subject to call.

    5/28/2025Senate

  12. Reported with Legislative Bureau amendments which were read and adopted. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.

    5/20/2025Senate

  13. Committee amendments read and adopted. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

    5/19/2025Senate

  14. Reported with amendments.

    5/14/2025Senate

  15. Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs.

    4/30/2025Senate

  16. Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.

    4/29/2025Senate

  17. Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 75, nays 16. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

    4/28/2025House

  18. Scheduled for floor debate on 04/28/2025.

    4/24/2025House

  19. Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.

    4/22/2025House

  20. Reported with amendments (9-4).

    4/16/2025House

  21. Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs.

    4/14/2025House

  22. Prefiled.

    4/4/2025House

  23. Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs.

    4/4/2025House

Bill Text

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