Louisiana

11 Laws Louisiana Just Passed To Make Its Elections More Secure

Published

2 years ago

July 2, 2024

11 Laws Louisiana Just Passed To Make Its Elections More Secure

Here in Louisiana, we passed a slate of 11 different election integrity bills during our 2024 legislative session. Each bill was designed to earn voters’ trust via three main goals: to help close loopholes in our existing election integrity policies, to establish uniformity in the collection and tabulation of ballots, and to help further clean our voter rolls.

Cleaning Up the Voter Rolls

Act 2 will allow the registrar of voters to conduct an expanded annual canvass of Louisiana voters. Federal law requires that every state conduct voter list maintenance. To that end, every year, election officials send out cards to voters who file a change of address with the U.S. Postal Service, which they sign and return. This process keeps our rolls clean and up-to-date. If someone has moved out of state or passed away, we need to know about it, and they need to be removed from the voter rolls. Act 2 will allow us to send canvass cards to those who have not voted or had contact with our office in 10 or more years, a group numbering over 160,000, according to our records. If they do not respond, they will be moved to the inactive list.

This law was a recommendation of the Louisiana legislative auditor and was previously passed by the legislature three years in a row. Our previous governor vetoed the bill all three times. But now we finally have a governor who understands the importance of election integrity measures.

Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Register to Vote

An overwhelming majority of voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2022 that banned alien voting in Louisiana. Act 500 allows us to enforce this amendment by requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when individuals register to vote. It should not be up for debate that the right to vote is reserved for American citizens.

Making Absentee Voting More Secure

The several absentee ballot collection and tabulation reform bills passed include Act 380, Act 302, Act 317, Act 712, Act 321, and Act 25. The bills complement Louisiana’s ban on ballot harvesting by preventing individuals from engaging in absentee ballot application harvesting, assisting with the certification of more than one absentee ballot aside from immediate family members, or delivering more than one absentee ballot of a non-family member to registrars of voters by any means, among other protections. Further, these acts will require those witnessing a ballot to be at least 18 years old.

Act 321 provides for uniform absentee ballot standards across Louisiana. Currently, the Parish Boards of Election Supervisors in each parish determines when to reject a ballot based on deficiencies. But the new legislation will clarify when, in the event of certain deficiencies, a ballot must be challenged. This includes mail-in ballots with any “missing information” that is “required” and not properly corrected.

Closing Loopholes and Preventing Fraud

Act 264, Act 701, and Act 291 are preventative measures that will help further close loopholes in our election policies and provide additional tools with which to investigate instances of voter fraud.

Act 291 preemptively bans ranked-choice voting (RCV) in Louisiana by prohibiting its use “in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office” in the state. RCV is a convoluted, confusing system that has caused chaos in elections across the country, and this ban will work to protect the principle of one person, one vote.

Act 701 will require third-party groups that wish to hold voter registration drives — defined as “the solicitation, distribution, or collection of voter registration applications by a third-party voter registration organization” — to register with our office. It would protect voters’ personal information and enforce the timeliness of the registration forms’ return, to help avoid a situation where people who think they have been registered to vote show up on Election Day and find their registration form was never returned. It would also prohibit these third-party groups from pre-filling applications, which could lead to voter confusion.

Act 264 established the Division of Election Integrity within the Louisiana Department of State. The law gives Louisiana’s Elections Compliance Unit — which has successfully investigated cases of election fraud — a new name that more clearly describes the division’s work.

An Example to Other States

All 11 bills in our legislative package were passed during the regular legislative session and have already been signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry.

Measures such as these reinforce trust in the electoral process. They grant a level of certainty to voters that their votes count and that their elections are fair, regardless of outcome. If other states seek to accomplish the same, they should consider following Louisiana’s example.

Nancy Landry is Louisiana’s 45th Secretary of State. She was elected in November 2023 and previously served as First Assistant Secretary of State.

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Louisiana

Louisiana bill would impose tougher penalties for operating unlicensed gambling websites

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

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Louisiana bill would impose tougher penalties for operating unlicensed gambling websites

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New legislation in Baton Rouge would reclassify some illegal gaming-related offenses as racketeering law violations, elevating potential consequences.

Louisiana has already stepped up its enforcement of its gaming laws related to potential illegal gaming but a new bill in the state legislature would give prosecutors’ actions more teeth. The proposal would elevate certain crimes involving unlicensed gaming in the state to a racketeering charge with more severe penalties linked to convictions.

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Louisiana bill changes classification of gaming-related charges

Louisiana Rep. Bryan Fontenot has pre-filed HB 53, which could rewrite the state code as it pertains to unlicensed gaming sites. The legislation has been provisionally assigned to the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice, as the 2026 session does not begin until March 9.

Under the proposal, the state’s definition of racketeering would expand to include “gambling, gambling by computer, gambling on cockfights, gambling by electronic sweepstakes, unlawful wagering, and bribery of sports participants.” Under current statutes, racketeering convictions carry penalties of fines of “not more than one million dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor for not more than 50 years, or both.”

Additionally, racketeering convictions that result in sentences of fines of at least $10,000 revoke recipients’ eligibility for parole. The enactment of this bill as currently composed could have a significant impact on the operation of sweepstakes-based online casino sites for real money in Louisiana.

At the same time, many of the companies in that space have already ceased potentially infringing actions within Louisiana.

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Louisiana has already been off-limits for sweepstakes casinos

In 2025, Louisiana gaming regulators and law enforcement took multiple actions to restrict residents’ access to unlicensed platforms for playing casino games online. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill shared a public notice about the illegality of sweepstakes-based online gaming sites, in addition to issuing cease-and-desist orders to the companies affiliated with those sites. As a result, many of the operators of those sites geofenced Louisiana out of their service areas.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board supplemented that action with its additional cease-and-desist letters. Fontenot’s bill could add additional weight to these demands if it becomes law.

There is currently no legal framework for playing online casino games or redeeming casino bonus codes in Louisiana. While online sports wagering is legal in most of the state, officials in Baton Rouge have not yet tackled the issue of iGaming.

Even if voters in Louisiana someday do clear the way for the utilization of Fanatics Casino promo codes, that would involve licensed gaming and not affect the implementation of Fontenot’s bill. However, such deliberations do not seem imminent.

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If HB 53 becomes law, Louisiana could levy some of the toughest penalties for illegal gaming activity in the United States. Many potential targets of prosecution have already pulled out of the state.

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Louisiana

Governor’s Office of Strategic Community Initiatives | Office of Governor Jeff Landry

Published

20 hours ago

February 27, 2026

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Governor’s Office of Strategic Community Initiatives | Office of Governor Jeff Landry

Driving Louisiana Forward Program

Commerical Driver’s License (CDL) Training

In partnership with the Louisiana Workforce Commission and South Louisiana Community College, this program aims to provide African American males with financial assistance to obtain Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) training, strengthening the resilience and contributions of this key demographic and improving equitable access to workforce opportunities. This initiative aims to reduce high unemployment rates within this community but also focuses on ensuring participants come from rural and economically disadvantaged areas.

Earn your CDL Class A license with this comprehensive classroom and behind-the-wheel program to drive tractor[1]trailers, dump trucks, tow trucks, delivery trucks, tanker trucks, and flatbed trucks.

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Louisiana

Landry asks Louisiana’s Washington delegation to redraw federal judicial districts

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

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Landry asks Louisiana’s Washington delegation to redraw federal judicial districts

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Gov. Jeff Landry is asking Louisiana’s congressional leaders to amend the state’s federal judicial districts, citing caseload growth and public safety concerns.

Landry sent letters to Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. John Kennedy, Congressman Cleo Fields, and Congresswoman Julia Letlow requesting the change.

The request

Louisiana is currently divided into three federal judicial districts: Eastern, Middle, and Western. Landry is asking that West Feliciana Parish be moved from the Middle District to the Western District.

In the letters, Landry cited significant growth in the Middle District and an increased caseload for its judges. He said a major driver of the Middle District docket is Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Public safety argument

Landry said moving West Feliciana Parish into the Western District would improve judicial efficiency and better address public safety needs in East Baton Rouge Parish and the state.

He said East Baton Rouge Parish continues to battle violent crime. According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, recent numbers show violent crime in the parish has decreased.

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