Louisiana Brings Suit Over Federal Obstacle to Its Voter ID Law

Louisiana is suing a federal elections agency over what the state calls its right to ensure that those who register to vote provide sufficient proof they’re US citizens.

The US Election Assistance Commission improperly barred Louisiana from implementing its 2024 law by failing to approve state-specific additions to the federal voter registration form, the state says. But the Constitution gives states the authority to establish voter qualifications for federal elections, according to the suit filed Tuesday with the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

The EAC’s actions violate the National Voter Registration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, the state claims.

As a “sovereign State,” Louisiana “has the constitutional right, power, and privilege to establish voting qualifications and regulate the conduct of federal elections, including voter registration requirements,” the state says.

In 2024, Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill that memorialized the state’s constitutional requirement that eligible voters must be US citizens, and added a requirement that voter applicants show proof of citizenship.

In a notice to the EAC, Louisiana gave the agency an opportunity to approve revisions to the state-specific instructions on the voter registration application before finalizing the changes, the state says.

Louisiana’s request for modifications to the federal form included one option to ask prospective voters to include their unique immigration number, or if an applicant doesn’t have such a number, to provide their place of birth, sex, and mother’s maiden name. The second option would be ask prospective voters to include that same information as an attachment to the federal form.

On Jan. 8, the EAC board voted to reject either option. The vote was 2-2, but the proposal needed a majority to pass, Louisiana says.

Louisiana has an “indisputable interest in preventing election fraud and preserving the integrity of its election process,” the suit says.

Louisiana is asking the court to hold EAC’s decision unlawful and to set aside its findings, or find that the agency acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner and committed an abuse of discretion. The state also wants the court to declare that, to the extent the NVRA requires Louisiana to use the federal form to register individuals to vote, the act is unconstitutional as applied to the state.

The state also seeks “reasonable” attorneys’ fees, and a court order that the federal form in its current state be found to be unconstitutional, or that the law leaves a state “free to request whatever additional information it determines is necessary to ensure that voters meet the qualifications it has the constitutional authority to establish.”

EAC media representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

The Office of the Louisiana Attorney General represents the state and Secretary of State Nancy Landry (R). Plauché & Carr LLP also represents Landry.

The case is Louisiana v. U.S. Election Assistance Comm’n, W.D. La., No. 3:26-cv-01191, complaint 4/14/26.