§2. Definitions
As used in this Code, the following words and terms shall have the meanings
hereinafter ascribed to each, unless the context clearly indicates another meaning:
(1)"Affidavit" means an oath or affirmation signed by the affiant before a notary
public, or before a commissioner-in-charge, commissioner, registrar of voters, deputy
registrar of voters, early voting commissioner, or secretary of state election staff, as
specifically required in this Code.
(2)"Attestation" means an oath or affirmation signed by the person making the oath
or affirmation.
(3)"Clerk of court" or "clerk" means the clerk of the district court, except that in any
parish having a civil district court and a criminal district court, these terms mean the clerk
of the criminal district court.
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§2. Definitions
As used in this Code, the following words and terms shall have the meanings
hereinafter ascribed to each, unless the context clearly indicates another meaning:
(1) "Affidavit" means an oath or affirmation signed by the affiant before a notary
public, or before a commissioner-in-charge, commissioner, registrar of voters, deputy
registrar of voters, early voting commissioner, or secretary of state election staff, as
specifically required in this Code.
(2) "Attestation" means an oath or affirmation signed by the person making the oath
or affirmation.
(3) "Clerk of court" or "clerk" means the clerk of the district court, except that in any
parish having a civil district court and a criminal district court, these terms mean the clerk
of the criminal district court.
(4) "Federal election" means a general, special, primary, or runoff election for federal
office; a convention or caucus of a political party which has authority to nominate a
candidate for federal office; a primary election held for the selection of delegates to a
national nominating convention of a political party; and a primary election held for the
expression of a preference for the nomination of individuals for election to the office of
president.
(5) "Federal office" means the office of president or vice president of the United
States or of senator or representative in the United States Congress.
(6) "Immediate family" means the individual's children, the spouses of his children,
his brothers and their spouses, his sisters and their spouses, his parents, his spouse, the
parents of his spouse, his grandparents, and his grandchildren.
(7) "Parish governing authority" or "governing authority of the parish" with respect
to Orleans Parish means the city council.
NOTE: Paragraphs (8) and (9) as enacted by Acts 2024, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 1, eff. June 12,
2025, for certain purposes, and then eff. Jan. 1, 2026, for all other purposes. See Acts 2024,
No. 640 and Acts 2025, No. 386.
(8) "Party affiliation" and "affiliation with a political party" mean the party
affiliation designated in the registrant's information on the state voter registration computer
system.
(9) "Party primary office" means an office of senator or representative in the United
States Congress, justice of the supreme court, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education, and the Public Service Commission.
(10) "Polling place" means any location where voting, either early or on election day,
is conducted pursuant to this Code.
(11) "Precinct" means the smallest political unit of a ward having defined
geographical boundaries.
NOTE: Paragraph (12) as enacted by Acts 2024, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 1, eff. June 12, 2025, for
certain purposes, and then eff. Jan. 1, 2026, for all other purposes. See Acts 2024, No. 640
and Acts 2025, No. 386.
(12) "Primary election" means a primary election for a party primary office or an
office other than a party primary office.
(13) "Qualified elector" or "qualified voter" means a person who has the proper
qualifications provided by law to be entitled to vote and who is lawfully registered to vote.
(14) "Ranked-choice voting" and "instant runoff voting" mean a method of
nominating or electing one or more candidates to an office as follows:
(a) Voters rank candidates on the ballot in order of preference.
(b) Tabulation proceeds in rounds such that in each round, one or more candidates
are nominated or elected, or a last-place candidate is defeated.
(c) Votes are transferred from nominated, elected, or defeated candidates to the
voter's next-ranked candidate or candidates in order of preference.
(d) Tabulation ends when a candidate receives the majority of the votes cast or when
the number of candidates nominated or elected equals the number of offices to be filled, as
applicable.
(15) "Signature" means the name of a person which is signed. Signature in this Title
includes the handwritten, electronic, or digitized name of an individual, except when the
handwritten signature of the individual is specifically required.
(16) "Third-party voter registration drive" means the solicitation, distribution, or
collection of voter registration applications by a third-party voter registration organization.
(17) "Third-party voter registration organization" means any individual or entity that
solicits, distributes, or collects voter registration applications and that is not required by law
to do so. "Third-party voter registration organization" shall not include the following:
(a) An individual who only seeks to encourage or assist a member of his immediate
family in registering to vote.
(b) A registrar of voters or employee thereof.
(c) The secretary of state or employee thereof who performs election duties.
(d) Any other individual or entity required by law to perform voter registration
activities.
(18) "Under an order of imprisonment" means a sentence of confinement, whether
or not suspended, whether or not the subject of the order has been placed on probation, with
or without supervision, and whether or not the subject of the order has been paroled.
(19) "Voter registration agency" means an office designated under R.S. 18:116(A)
to perform voter registration activities.
(20) "Voting district" means a geographical area composed of one or more precincts
in a parish in which every elector within that area votes in the same congressional district,
statewide board or commission district, judicial district, Senate District, House of
Representative District, parish governing authority district, local and ward office district,
municipal office district, and all other special election districts.
(21) "Ward" means a police jury ward in a parish and in parishes having no police
jury wards means the subdivision of the parish equivalent to a police jury ward.
Acts 1976, No. 697, §1, Jan. 1, 1978; Acts 1977, No. 544, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1978; Acts
1982, No. 559, §1, eff. July 22, 1982; Acts 1991, No. 277, §1; Acts 1993, No. 465, §1; Acts
1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 10, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995; Acts 2001, No. 1032, §7; Acts 2001, No.
1181, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; Acts 2008, No. 136, §1, eff. June 6, 2008; Acts 2011, 1st Ex.
Sess., No. 32, §1; Acts 2024, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 1, §1, eff. See Act; Acts 2024, No. 291, §1,
eff. May 28, 2024; Acts 2024, No. 355, §1; Acts 2024, No. 640, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2026; Acts
2024, No. 701, §1; Acts 2025, No. 386, §1; §§3, 7, eff. June 20, 2025.