Voter registration week gets underway in state

Richland Parish Registrar of voters wants to remind residents of the importance of participating in Voter Registration Week Sept. 21-25.

No cost is associated with registering to vote, Morgan said. It is a right afforded to you as a United States citizen by the U.S. Constitution.

To register to vote you must:

• be a U.S. citizen;

• be 17 years old (16 years old if registering in person at the Registrar of Voters Office or at the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles), but must be 18 years old to vote;

• not be under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony or, if under such an order not have been incarcerated pursuant to the order within the last five years and not be under an order of imprisonment related to a felony conviction for election fraud or any other election offense pursuant to La. R.S. 18:1461.2;

• not be under a judgment of full interdiction for mental incompetence or partial interdiction with suspension of voting rights;

• reside in the state and parish in which you seek to register; and

• must be registered at least 20 days prior to an election if registering through our GeauxVote Online Registration System with a Louisiana driver’s license or Louisiana special ID card or 30 days prior to an election if registering in person or by mail to be eligible to vote in that particular election. If mailing in an application, the application or envelope must be postmarked 30 days prior to the first election in which you seek to vote.

You may register to vote online at https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/voterregistration.

You may also register to vote in person at any registrar of voters office, the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles, the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, WIC offices, food stamp offices, Medicaid offices, offices serving persons with disabilities such as the Deaf Action Centers and Independent Living Offices or Armed Forces recruitment offices.

You may also apply to register by mail by downloading the Louisiana Voter Registration Application, completing it and mailing it to your local Registrar of Voters Office. 

You must qualify to register with a residence address in the parish with a street or rural route address. Post office box addresses and mail center boxes do not qualify. The registrar of voters must know where you live so you are assigned to the proper voting precinct for Election Day. If you have multiple residences and claim a homestead exemption, you must register to vote using your homestead exemption address; however, if you do not claim homestead exemption and reside at more than one place in the state with an intention to reside there indefinitely, you may choose to register only at one of the places at which you reside. However, there is an exception in the law for a person who resides in a nursing home or in a veterans’ home. They may register and vote at the address where the nursing home or veterans’ home is located, even though they have a homestead exemption on their residence.

If you were involuntarily displaced to a new parish or state due to a gubernatorially declared emergency, but want to remain registered to vote at your pre-emergency address, you may remain registered there if you have not changed your registration address or filed a homestead exemption on a different residence. You should provide a mailing address, if different from your pre-emergency residence address, to your registrar of voters to remain an active voter.

If you have changed residence inside your parish after registering to vote, you should notify the registrar of voters in your parish of any changes to your registration or make changes online.

If you have changed residence outside your parish after registering to vote, you are only eligible to remain registered and to vote in that parish for three months prior to an election. You must register in your new parish.

Once you are registered in your parish, you will remain registered as an active voter. If you move and your residence address is not able to be verified through the U.S. Postal Service during the annual canvass or you do not return the address confirmation card issued during the annual canvass to all voters who have moved or whose address cannot be verified, you will be placed on inactive status. You can activate your status by verifying your residence address online with a change of address or in person either on Election Day before voting or at the Registrar of Voters Office by completing an address confirmation card. If you do not verify your address and do not vote in two federal general elections, you may be canceled. You may also be suspended or canceled if you lose your civil rights or register to vote in another state. Your registration cannot be canceled between primary and general elections unless the registration was fraudulently placed on the registration records or if you are canceled pursuant to the annual canvas conducted by the registrar of voters. A person whose registration has been canceled is not permitted to vote until they submit a new registration to the registrar of voters.

A change of name can be made online or in person by a voter registration application stating the name under which the person desires to be registered. A person who changes their name by virtue of a judgment of court shall file with the registrar of voters a certified copy of the judgment.