BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said Wednesday that the fall 2021 elections will be pushed back by a month due to devastation from Hurricane Ida.
Ardoin announced that Gov. John Bel Edwards had agreed to his recommendation to move the Oct. 9 election to Nov. 13, and the Nov. 13 election to Dec. 11.
“This will allow our staff and local partners to properly prepare for a statewide election while ensuring the integrity of our election processes and that our voter’s traditional voting habits are as undisturbed as possible,” Ardoin said.
The dates for early voting and voter registration have also changed:
November 13: Open Primary/Orleans Municipal Parochial Primary/State Representative, District 16 and 102 Special Primary/State Senate, District 27 Special Primary Election
The deadline to register to vote in person or by mail is Oct. 13 and the deadline to register to vote online is Oct. 23. Early voting will take place Oct. 30 through Nov. 6 (excluding Sunday, Oct. 31) from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
December 11: Open General/Orleans Municipal Parochial General Election
The deadline to register to vote in person or by mail is Nov. 10 and the deadline to register to vote online is November 20. Early voting will take place November 27 through December 4 (excluding Sunday, Nov. 28) from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
According to the Secretary of State's office, this decision was made because of damage done to the polling locations, displaced election workers and 42 percent of Louisiana voters being affected by the storm.
“There are 4 statewide Constitutional Amendments on the ballot this fall that will impact Louisiana residents for years to come and postponing the election will allow more people to exercise their right to cast their vote,” says Shelton.
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