The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument, were prepared by Ashley Mitchell Carter.
DIGEST
SB 164 Original 2016 Regular Session Peterson
Present law provides that a person who is registered to vote and will be outside of the parish on
election day can vote absentee by mail if they meet one of the following requirements:
(1)A member of the United States Service, as defined in present law, and his spouse and
dependents.
(2)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.
(3)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.
(4)A person who is or who expects to be 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.
(5)A person who, after the registration books have closed as required by present law, has moved
his residence to another parish and the new residence is more than 100 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.
(6)A person 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.
(7)A person residing outside the United States.
Proposed law amends present law to provide that any person who is registered to vote and expects
to be outside of the parish on election day can vote absentee by mail ballot without having to meet
one of the previous requirements.
Effective August 1, 2016.
(Amends R.S. 18:1303(B))