Louisiana Elections, 2023

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This page provides information on the 2023 elections in Louisiana, including the offices on the ballot covered by Ballotpedia, election dates, and frequently asked questions.

Election dates[edit]

Statewide election dates in Louisiana are listed below. For more dates, please see the elections calendar.

Statewide election dates[edit]

October 14, 2023: Majority-vote system, first round
November 18, 2023: Majority-vote system, second round (if needed)

Offices on the ballot[edit]

Noteworthy elections[edit]

Below is a list of races in this state that received in-depth coverage on Ballotpedia. Click the link below to learn about that race.

• Louisiana Secretary of State election, 2023
• Louisiana Secretary of State election, 2023 (October 14 primary)
• Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2023

Statewide ballot measures

See also: Louisiana 2023 ballot measures

October 14, 2023:

November 18, 2023:

Frequently asked questions[edit]

When are the polls open?

7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Saturday elections)^[1]
See State Poll Opening and Closing Times (2023) for more information

Where can I find election results?

Election results are posted on Ballotpedia's election overview pages, as well as the relevant candidate pages. You can find links to the current election overview pages in the "Offices on the ballot" section of this page.

How do primaries work in Louisiana?

Louisiana does not conduct typical primary elections. Instead, all candidates running for a local, state, or federal office appear on the same ballot in either October (in odd-numbered years) or November (in even-numbered years), regardless of their partisan affiliations. If a candidate wins a simple majority of all votes cast for the office (i.e., 50 percent, plus one vote), he or she wins the election outright. If no candidate meets that threshold, the top two finishers advance to a second election in either November (in odd-numbered years) or December (in even-numbered years), regardless of their partisan affiliations. In that election, the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes wins. Ballotpedia refers to Louisiana's electoral system as the Louisiana majority-vote system. It is also commonly referred to as a jungle primary. Because it is possible for a candidate to win election in the first round of voting, Louisiana's nominating contest is not a traditional primary.

Note: HB17, signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry (R) on 01/22/24, creates closed partisan primaries and primary runoffs for Congress, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Louisiana Public Service Commission and Louisiana Supreme Court beginning in 2026.

How do I register to vote?

Check your voter registration status here.

To vote in Louisiana, one must be a United States citizen who resides in the state and parish in which he or she registers. A voter must be at least 18 years old by Election Day.^[2]

Registration completed via mail or in person must occur at least 30 days before Election Day. Registration completed online must occur at least 20 days before Election Day. Registrants must present a valid form of identification to register. Pre-registration is available beginning at age 16.^[2]

Voters may register in person at any Registrar of Voters office or any of the following places:^[2]

• Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles
• Louisiana Department of Social Services
• WIC offices
• Food stamp offices
• Medicaid offices
• Offices and agencies serving people with disabilities
• Military recruitment offices

Is there an early voting period?

See also: Early voting

Louisiana permits early voting. Learn more by visiting this website.

Early voting permits citizens to cast ballots in person at a polling place prior to an election. In states that permit no-excuse early voting, a voter does not have to provide an excuse for being unable to vote on Election Day. States that allow voters to cast no-excuse absentee/mail-in ballots in person are counted as no-excuse early voting states.

As of February 2024, 47 states and the District of Columbia permitted no-excuse early voting.

Who is eligible for absentee voting?

See also: Absentee/mail-in voting

The table below displays absentee voting information specific to Louisiana's 2024 election cycle.

The following individuals are eligible to vote absentee in Louisiana:^[3]

1. Senior citizens, 65 years of age or older
2. Voters who expect to be temporarily absent from the state or their parish during the early voting period and on election day
3. Offshore workers
4. Residents of nursing homes, veterans' homes, or hospitals
5. Students, instructors, or professors (as well as their spouses and dependents) who are living outside of their parish
6. Ministers, priests, rabbis, or other members of the clergy who are assigned outside of their parish
7. Voters who moved more than 100 miles from the seat of their former parish within 30 days of an election
8. Voters who are involuntarily confined to a mental institution and have not been judicially declared incompetent
9. Voters who expect to be hospitalized on Election Day
10. Incarcerated voters who have not been convicted of a felony
11. Participants in the secretary of state's Address Confidentiality Program
12. Sequestered jurors

What are the voter ID laws in Louisiana?

See Voter identification laws by state.

How do I file to run for office?

See Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Louisiana for information on how to run for state or federal office.

What does Ballotpedia cover?

Ballotpedia's coverage extends to all elections on the federal level, all gubernatorial, state legislative, statewide ballot measure, and statewide judicial elections, as well as many other types of state executive offices. Ballotpedia also covers all elections in the U.S. territories, but not elections in other countries.

Local election coverage includes comprehensive ballot coverage for municipal and judicial elections in the top 100 cities by population and races for the large counties that overlap them. In the state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities, it includes coverage of mayoral, city council, and district attorney elections. It also includes school board elections in the top 200 largest school districts by enrollment, all California local ballot measures, and notable local ballot measures from across the nation.

Please note that Ballotpedia's election coverage does not encompass all local offices. Election information is not published in a timely manner for many local offices, which makes it infeasible to gather the necessary data given our limited resources. However, Ballotpedia's coverage scope for local elections continues to grow, and you can use Ballotpedia's sample ballot tool to see what local elections we are covering in your area.

How do I contact Ballotpedia with a question?

Email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Local election officials

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Do you need information about elections in your area? Are you looking for your local election official? Click here to visit the U.S. Vote Foundation and use their election official lookup tool.

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Redistricting following the 2020 census

This section lists major events in the post-2020 census redistricting cycle in reverse chronological order. Major events include the release of apportionment data, the release of census population data, the introduction of formal map proposals, the enactment of new maps, and noteworthy court challenges. Click the dates below for additional information.

• May 15, 2024: The U.S. Supreme Court ordered Louisiana to use the congressional map enacted on Jan. 22 for the 2024 elections.
• April 30, 2024: The U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana struck down the state's new congressional map and scheduled a hearing for May 6, 2024, to determine which maps should be used for the 2024 elections.
• February 8, 2024: The U.S. District Court for Middle Louisiana struck down the state's legislative maps and declared them to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
• January 22, 2024: Governor Jeff Landry (R) signed a new congressional district map into law.
• January 19, 2024: The state House voted 86-16 and the state Senate voted 27-11 to pass a new congressional map.
• January 15, 2024: Gov. Landry called the Louisiana state legislature into a special session days after he assumed office on January 8 to draw new congressional maps in compliance with the court's order.
• November 30, 2023: The U.S. District Court for Middle Louisiana extended the deadline for the creation of new maps that comply with the Voting Rights Act to January 30, 2024 .
• November 10, 2023: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a prior injunction of Louisiana's congressional maps and issued a deadline of January 15, 2024, for the creation of new maps that comply with the Voting Rights Act.
• October 19, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to pause and reverse a ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• June 26, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin's (R) appeal of a federal district court decision that held that Louisiana's congressional district map should include an additional majority-minority district. It also lifted an earlier stay of the federal court's ruling and allowed the case to proceed before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• June 28, 2022: The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana's ruling that struck down the congressional district boundaries. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling means that the boundaries adopted by the legislature were used for the 2022 elections.
• June 18, 2022: The Louisiana legislature adjourned a special session on redistricting without approving new congressional district boundaries.
• June 17, 2022: Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) asked the Supreme Court of the United States to stay the federal district court's decision overturning the state's congressional map pending appeal and petitioned the court to hear the case.
• June 12, 2022: The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated its administrative stay of the federal district court's decision overturning the state's congressional map and denied motions to stay the district court's decision pending appeal.
• June 9, 2022: The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an administrative stay of the district court's ruling pending further proceedings.
• June 7, 2022: Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) called a special legislative session on redistricting to begin June 15 and end June 20.
• June 6, 2022: Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin (R), Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R), and the Republican majority leaders of the state legislature appealed the district court's decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
• June 6, 2022: The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana struck down Louisiana's enacted congressional district boundaries and ordered the legislature to enact a remedial plan on or before June 20, 2022.
• March 30, 2022: Louisiana's congressional map was enacted when the state legislature overrode Gov. John Bel Edwards' (D) veto of the plan the legislature had passed on February 18, 2022.
• March 14, 2022: The legislative maps that both the state House and Senate passed during the special session on redistricting on February 18, 2022, became law without Gov. Edwards]]' signature.
• March 9, 2022: Gov. Edwards vetoed the state's congressional map and returned it to the legislature for further action. He also announced that he would neither sign nor veto the legislative maps, thus allowing them to become law without his signature.
• February 18, 2022: The Louisiana legislature approved identical congressional district map plans and proposed district boundaries for both the state House and state Senate and sent them to Gov. Edwards to sign.
• February 1, 2022: The Louisiana legislature begins a special legislative session to address redistricting.
• September 16, 2021: The U.S. Census Bureau released data from the 2020 census in an easier-to-use format to state redistricting authorities and the public.
• Aug. 12, 2021: The U.S. Census Bureau delivered redistricting data to states in a legacy format.
• June 10, 2021: The Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the President of the Louisiana State Senate signed HCR90, a concurrent resolution outlining the "minimally acceptable criteria for consideration of redistricting plans."
• April 26, 2021: The U.S. Census Bureau delivered apportionment counts.

Footnotes[edit]

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