The general election is three months from today, and the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office has put out its inactive voter list. That number is currently at about 447,000, accounting for 15% of all registered voters. Trey Williams with the Secretary of State’s Office says there are two main reasons voters are moved to the inactive voter list.
“That is done from people that might have had a return of an address card sent back to us where something was undeliverable, or they might have not voted within the past 10 years,” Williams explained.
One common misconception is that being on the inactive voter list means you can’t vote. That’s not true. And Williams says coming off that inactive voter list is actually very easy, and Secretary Nancy Landry won’t even make you write a three-page essay explaining why you failed to do your civic duty for more than a decade.
“All you have to do is come to the poll. You would sign an affidavit saying that ‘Yes, this is where I live,’ and then you go in and vote,” Williams instructed.
You can check to see whether you’re on the inactive voter list on GeauxVote.com. Williams says when you’re added to the list, the clock starts running towards being removed from the voter roll altogether.
“You have two federal election cycles to come off of that inactive voter list. And if you do not come off the inactive list in those two federal cycles, then your voter registration is canceled,” Williams noted.
If that happens and you still live in Louisiana, you would simply need to re-register to vote.