§ 18:533 — Establishment and location of polling places; responsibility for acts or omissions

§533. Establishment and location of polling places; responsibility for acts or omissions
A. Establishment. (1) The governing authority of each parish shall establish one
polling place for each precinct. Each polling place shall be equipped with proper electric
current, fixtures, and outlets necessary to properly operate the voting machines and otherwise
to conduct the election. Each polling place shall have sanitary facilities available. The
governing authority shall complete a survey form prepared by the secretary of state for each
polling place in its parish and shall certify to the secretary of state that each polling place
meets the accessibility standards for individuals with disabilities adopted by the secretary of
state.
(2) The parish governing authority shall, to the extent possible, locate the polling
place of multiple precincts in the same polling location, if it determines after due
consideration that to locate the polling places of multiple precincts within the same polling
location would be efficient, cost-effective, and convenient to voters.
B. Location. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this Subsection, the polling place
for a precinct shall be located in the precinct in a suitable public building and all public
bodies are hereby required to allow the use of public buildings as polling places without cost
or charge when the parish governing authority requires it. If no public building is available,
then a polling place may be located on private property. The parish governing authority shall
inform the secretary of state as to whether the parish polling places are located in public
buildings or on private property.
(2) When, after the exercise of due diligence, the governing authority of a parish is
unable to secure a location for a polling place within a precinct, the governing authority may
select a location for the polling place which is within the nearest precinct having proper
facilities. All other laws relating to the establishment and location of a polling place shall
be complied with. The governing authority shall take all reasonable steps to notify the
residents of the precinct of the location of the polling place.
C. Prohibited locations. A polling place shall not be located in or on the grounds of:
(1) A place where beverages of high or low alcoholic content are dispensed to the
public, but this prohibition shall not prevent the location of a polling place on premises
housing a nonprofit organization whose principal business is not the dispensing of beverages
of high or low alcoholic content, but no such alcoholic beverages shall be dispensed on such
premises during election day or for three hours before the polls open.
(2) A jail, penitentiary, or other penal institution.
(3) A mental hospital or a mental health center.
(4) An eleemosynary institution where wards of the state are confined or housed at
state expense, except educational institutions and the United States Marine Hospital No. 88
at Carville.
(5) Private property owned, occupied, or leased by a candidate in the election or the
spouse of any such candidate, or an officer or employee of the state or any of its political
subdivisions.
D. Payment for use of private property. When it is necessary to pay for the use of
private property as a polling place, the payment shall not exceed one hundred fifty dollars
for each election unless written approval is received from the secretary of state or his
designee.
E. Lease. Prior to the designation by the governing authority of any polling place to
be located on private property, the governing authority shall enter into a written lease for
such property which lease shall state that the property is to be used as a polling place for a
specified precinct and that the polling place is not owned, occupied, or leased by a candidate
in the election, or a spouse of any such candidate, or an officer or employee of the state or
any of its political subdivisions. Such lease shall be recorded in the office of the clerk of
court for the parish wherein such property is located. After July 1, 1986, the lease shall also
be filed with the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall not pay precinct rental for a
polling place if a copy of the lease thereon has not been properly filed at least thirty days
prior to the election, unless a change in the location of the polling place was necessitated
immediately prior to the election and the governing authority lacked sufficient time to
transmit a copy of the lease to the secretary of state prior to the election. Lease contracts
entered into immediately prior to the election shall be filed with the secretary of state not
later than ten days after the election for payment to be made by the secretary of state.
Payments on leases filed later than ten days following an election will not be made by the
secretary of state except for subsequent elections.
F. Responsibility for acts or omissions. (1) An owner, lessee, or occupant of a
premises to be used by any person as a polling place on any election day shall not be liable
to such person for injury to person or property which occurs on the premises while it is being
used as a polling place on any election day.
(2) This Subsection does not exclude any liability which would otherwise exist for
willful or malicious injury to persons or property or liability imposed on the owner, lessee,
or occupant of the premises pursuant to Civil Code Articles 2317 and 2322.
(3) Nothing in this Subsection shall be construed to relieve any person using the
premises of another as a polling place from any obligation which he may have in the absence
of this Subsection to exercise care in his use of such premises, or from the legal
consequences of failure to employ such care.
(4) The word "premises" as used in this Subsection includes lands, private ways,
buildings, and structures which are being used as a polling place, or used as access to a
polling place, on any election day.

Legislative History

Acts 1976, No. 697, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1978. Amended by Acts 1978, No. 580, §1; Acts 1980, No. 506, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1981. Acts 1984, No. 426, §1; Acts 1985, No. 754, §1; Acts 1990, No. 107, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1995, No. 715, §1; Acts 2001, No. 451, §6, eff. Jan. 12, 2004; Acts 2001, No. 1181, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; Acts 2005, No. 431, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; Acts 2006, No. 403, §1, eff. June 15, 2006; Acts 2009, No. 436, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2010; Acts 2018, No. 584, §1, eff. May 28, 2018; Acts 2018, No. 584, §3, eff. Jan. 1, 2019; Acts 2025, No. 386, §1.