Voting by mail is safe, secure, accessible, and needed now more than ever. Voting by mail doesn’t just protect our health, it protects and expands our democratic right to vote – something Democrats will never stop fighting for. If you’re an eligible registered voter, we encourage you to follow the steps below and vote by mail in upcoming elections.
1. Find out if you’re eligible to vote by mail.
Over the age of 65
Temporarily absent from parish of residence
Working offshore
Reside in a nursing home, veterans’ home or a hospital for an extended stay for a physical disability
If you are a student, instructor or professor located and living outside of your parish of registration, or the spouse/dependent
If you are minister, priest, rabbi, or other member of the clergy assigned outside of your parish of registration, or a spouse/dependent
If you moved more than 100 miles from the parish seat of your former residence after the voter registration books closed (30 days prior to an election),
If you are involuntarily confined in an institution for mental treatment outside your parish of registration and you are not interdicted and not judicially declared incompetent,
If you expect to be hospitalized on election day and did not have knowledge of the hospitalization until after the time for early voting had expired; or you were hospitalized during the time for early voting and you expect to be hospitalized on election day; or you were either hospitalized or restricted to bed by your physician during early voting and on election day,
If you are incarcerated or expect to be incarcerated in an institution inside or outside of your parish of registration and you are not under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony,
If you are physically disabled, you may apply through the Disabled Application and if not enrolled, enroll in the disability program.
If you are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, due to an underlying medical condition
This includes diabetes, asthma, lung disease, kidney disease, or liver disease, or other underlying medical conditions.
If you are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 because you are immunocompromised.
If you are subject to a medically necessary quarantine or isolation as a results of COVID-19
Advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns;
Experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis;
Caring for an identified individual who has been advised by a health care provider to quarantine or self-isolate due to COVID-19 concerns
Deadline to request an absentee ballot:
Applicants must request a ballot by 4:30 p.m. on July 7th.
3. Vote and return your ballot!
Deadlines to return absentee ballots: The deadlines to return a voted absentee ballot for the July 11, 2020 election are:
July 10, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. (day before the election) for all voters except military, overseas, and hospitalized voters; and
July 11, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. (day of the election) for military, overseas, and hospitalized voters.
How to receive an absentee ballot:
Mail
Fax (with waiver of right to secret ballot);
Email (for military, overseas, and voters with physical disabilities, with waiver of right to secret ballot)
Hand delivery to an immediate family member of a hospitalized voter.
How to return the absentee ballot:
By Mail.
By Fax: Upon request submitted to the registrar of voters.
By Hand Delivery: A voter or immediate family member of the voter may deliver the ballot to the registrar of voters (a signed statement must be completed upon delivery by anyone other than the voter, certifying their relationship to the voter).
For the July 11, 2020 and August 15, 2020 elections, if ballots cannot be returned in-person because registrar of voters offices remain closed to the public, voters may still return absentee ballots by mail, by commercial courier, by fax (with waiver of secret ballot), or by email (for military, overseas, or emergency workers with approval of the secretary of state, with waiver of secret ballot).