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2016 Regular Session
SENATE BILL NO. 164
BY SENATOR PETERSON
VOTERS/VOTING. Allows any person who is registered to vote to vote absentee by mail
without rendering a reason for requesting an absentee ballot. (8/1/16)
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 18:1303(B), relative to voting; to provide that any qualified voter
3 may vote absentee; to remove other requirements for voting absentee; to provide for
4 the distribution of absentee ballots to accommodate the absentee voting period; to
5 remove special provisions for absentee voting; and to provide for related matters.
6 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
7 Section 1. R.S. 18:1303(B) is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
8 §1303. Persons entitled to vote in compliance with this Chapter
9 * * *
10 B. By mail. The following persons, otherwise Any person qualified to vote,
11 who expects to be out of the parish on election day, may vote absentee by mail. upon
12 meeting the requirements of this Chapter:
13 (1) A member of the United States Service, as defined in R.S. 18:1302, and
14 his spouse and dependents.
15 (2) A student, instructor, or professor in an institution of higher learning
16 located outside the parish in which he is qualified to vote and who lives outside of
17 said parish by reason thereof, and his spouse and any dependent accompanying and
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions. SB NO. 164
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1 residing with him.
2 (3) A minister, priest, rabbi, or other member of the clergy assigned to a
3 religious post outside the parish in which he is registered and his spouse and any
4 dependents accompanying and residing with him.
5 (4) A person who is or who expects to be temporarily outside the territorial
6 limits of the state or absent from the parish in which he is qualified to vote during the
7 early voting period and on election day.
8 (5) A person who, after the registration books have closed as required by R.S.
9 18:135, has moved his residence to another parish and the new residence is more
10 than one hundred miles from the parish seat of the parish of his former residence, in
11 which case he may vote absentee by mail in the parish of his former residence.
12 (6) A person involuntarily confined in an institution for mental treatment
13 outside the parish in which he is qualified to vote, who is not interdicted and not
14 judicially declared incompetent.
15 (7) Repealed by Acts 1993, No. 418, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1994.
16 (8) A person residing outside the United States.
17 * * *
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Ashley Mitchell Carter.
DIGEST
SB 164 Engrossed 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
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions. SB NO. 164
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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))
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions.