Louisiana § RS 18:2 - Definitions

§ RS 18:2. 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.