Governor Landry has signed a package of election integrity and security bills designed to enhance election safeguards and further secure Louisiana’s election process. Secretary of State Nancy Landry says one of the measures strengthens the state’s voter ID laws.
“The previous law allowed you to just sort of ‘pinky swear’ if you did not have your ID. You could just sign an affidavit swearing who you were, and then you could go ahead and vote and your vote would count,” Landry explained.
Landry says the new voter ID law lists the acceptable forms of identification needed for a voter to cast a ballot if he or she shows up to vote without a state-issued photo ID.
“The law before was very vague. It just said generally accepted photo ID with a signature, and so people were bringing in things like Costco cards,” Landry said.
The new law goes into effect on July 1st, 2027. So starting with the statewide elections in 2027, if a voter does not have a photo ID, he or she will need to provide the poll worker with a birth certificate, Social Security Card or certificate of citizenship, along with a voter registration notice, a recent utility bill, bank statement or pay stub.
Landry says the governor also signed a bill that requires Louisiana to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program to help identify any non-citizen that’s registered to vote in Louisiana.
“We were the first state to run our rolls through that database when it became available, and we want to continue to do that on an annual basis to make sure our voter rolls remain clean,” Landry noted.
Governor Landry has also signed a bill that prohibits a person from taking a photo of the Election Day precinct registers. That’s the piece of paper you sign, right before you go into the voter’s booth.