2009 Louisiana Laws TITLE 18 Louisiana election code :: RS 18:1312 Retention of ballots at registrar's office

§1312.  Retention of ballots at registrar's office

A.  All absentee by mail and early voting ballots shall be retained in the office of the registrar of voters except as otherwise provided in this Chapter.

B.  All absentee by mail ballots which are received timely shall be removed from the mail return envelope, if applicable, shall be arranged by ward and precinct and placed and retained in a special absentee by mail and early voting ballot envelope designated and used only for that purpose, and shall be delivered to the parish board of election supervisors to be counted and tabulated as provided in R.S. 18:1313.

C.  After the tabulation of the absentee by mail and early voting ballots on election night, the board shall replace the absentee by mail and early voting ballots in the special absentee by mail and early voting ballot envelope and return the envelope to the registrar of voters.  The registrar shall retain these absentee by mail and early voting ballots inviolate in the special absentee by mail and early voting ballot envelope until the delay for filing an election contest has lapsed, or, if an action contesting the election has been filed, until the judgment in the action becomes definitive.

D.  Except as otherwise provided in R.S. 18:1308.1(C) and 1311(D)(1) and (5), all mail ballots received on or after election day shall not be counted, but shall be endorsed with the day and hour of receipt, shall be kept unopened for six months, and then shall be destroyed.  Any absentee ballot received by mail or facsimile not the first received from the voter shall be treated as provided in this Subsection.

E.  Absentee by mail and early voting ballots, applications for absentee by mail and early voting ballots, certificates, and other absentee by mail and early voting ballot paraphernalia associated with an election shall be retained for six months after an election, unless litigation is pending relative to such election.  If litigation is pending relative to such election, such paraphernalia shall be retained in accordance with any applicable court order and until said litigation is concluded.

Acts 1976, No. 697, §, eff. Jan. 1, 1978.  Amended by Acts 1977, No. 513, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1978; Acts 1980, No. 506, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1981; Acts 1981, No. 475, §1; Acts 1985, No. 754, §1; Acts 1985, No. 755, §1; Acts 1986, No. 669, §1; Acts 1988, No. 909, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1989; Acts 1992, No. 438, §1, eff. June 20, 1992; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 10, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995; Acts 1999, No. 254, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2000; Acts 2001, No. 1181, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; Acts 2005, No. 220, §1, 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2006.