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New Orleans voting guide: What to know before you cast your ballot

How To Vote

Key dates and deadlines

  • Early voting: Oct. 18 through 29 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Sunday Oct. 20 and Sunday, Oct. 27
  • Deadline to request absentee ballots: Nov. 1 at 4:30 p.m., excluding military and overseas voters
  • Election Day: Polls are open from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5. 

Are you eligible to vote?

To vote in Louisiana, you must be:

  • Registered by the deadline
  • At least 18 years old
  • A U.S. citizen
  • A legal resident
  • Not under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony
  • Not judicially declared mentally incompetent

Are you registered to vote?

The deadline to register in-person or by mail was Monday, Oct. 7. The deadline to register online was Tuesday, Oct. 15.

The Louisiana Secretary of State's website has a voter portal you can use to check whether you’re registered to vote.

  1. To find your voting information, select "Search by Voter" 
  2. Type in your first and last name, zip code, birth month and year 
  3. Click "Submit," and the portal should pull up your information 

If you missed the deadline, you won’t be able to vote, but you can register for the next election online. If you’ve moved, changed your name, address or party affiliation, you should notify the registrar of voters in your parish or make changes online.


Can you vote by mail?

Unless you’re a military or overseas voter, you’ll need to have a specific reason to vote absentee. If you’re eligible, you can request an absentee ballot through the state’s online voter portal or you may print and mail an application directly to your registrar of voters. Military, overseas or hospitalized applicants must request their ballot by 4:30 p.m. the day before Election Day. All other applicants will need to request their ballots by 4:30 p.m. on the fourth day before the election.

Disabled, military and overseas voters may be able to get their absentee ballot electronically. For more information, they can contact their registrar of voters.

The deadlines for returning mail ballots are:

  • By 8 p.m. on Election Day for military personnel and hospitalized and overseas voters
  • By 4:30 p.m. the day before Election Day for all others 

How to vote early

If you’re registered to vote, you should be able to vote early.

For typical elections, the early voting period starts 14 to seven days before the election. For presidential elections, it begins 18 to seven days beforehand.

Designated polling places will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for each day of early voting.

A list of early voting locations in each parish is available on the state’s online voter portal. 


Find your polling place

The state’s online voter portal tells you where to cast your vote. Search by voter or parish to find your polling location.


What’s on the ballot?

You can also view a sample of your ballot through the portal. Select the election date, your parish, ward and precinct, and your ballot should pop up.


What should I bring to the polls?

You’ll need to have a current and valid photo ID with your signature.

Options include:

  • Louisiana driver’s license
  • Louisiana special ID 
  • LA Wallet digital driver’s license
  • Military ID
  • Some other generally recognized picture ID 

If your ID does not have your picture or signature, you can still cast your vote by signature on a voter affidavit.


School Board Election

There’s only one school board race this election season and it’s in New Orleans. All seven seats are up, but only two are contested.

The board recently ended its all-charter system. The Leah Chase School, in the Carrollton neighborhood, opened this fall and is the city’s first direct-run school in years.

A candidate can win outright on Nov. 5 with more than 50% of the vote. If a runoff is needed, it will be held on Dec. 7.


District 2: Gentilly, New Orleans East, Upper 9th

Gabriela Biro, Eric “Doc” Jones and Chan Tucker are running for the District 2 seat, which represents Gentilly, New Orleans East and the Upper 9th Ward. The winner will replace Ethan Ashley, who is not seeking re-election.

Biro is a professional hairdresser and has a child who attends one of the city’s public schools.

Her priorities include ensuring fair pay, benefits and union support for teachers and staff, according to her campaign website, as well as promoting inclusive policies and combating corruption.

She supports the district’s decision to run the Leah Chase School directly and promised to “expand upon this work” in an Instagram post.

Jones used to teach in New Orleans schools and said in his campaign announcement that he spent nearly two decades as a director at Teach for America.

He resigned from his position on the board of a now-closed charter school after he was accused of advising teachers not to fail students. Jones told The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate recently that the allegations are “baseless.”

Jones says New Orleans needs “neighborhood schools for neighborhood children.” The city’s system is open enrollment, meaning families aren’t zoned to schools, but students who live nearby are given some priority.

Tucker, an Entergy executive, is also a public school parent. His two sons attend Audubon Schools, where he serves as a board member.

“It’s great that charter schools give families choices, but it also means we must work extra hard to ensure our schools give all students the education they deserve,” Tucker said in his campaign announcement.

He’s backed by a national pro-charter organization, Democrats for Education Reform.


District 4: Algiers, parts of the Marigny, Bywater and French Quarter

Board member Donaldo Batiste is facing one challenger for his seat covering Algiers and parts of the Marigny, Bywater and the French Quarter.

Batiste was appointed in 2022 to fill the then empty seat and ran unopposed in a special election. He’s a former teacher, principal and school administrator in New Orleans.

He strongly supported the district running the Leah Chase School and has said the board should take over more low-performing schools.

KaTrina Chantelle Griffin, is an accountant and has two children who graduated from the city’s public schools. She says on her campaign website that she plans to address truancy and chronic absenteeism.

Like Tucker, Griffin is also backed by the pro-charter group Democrats for Education Reform. She told The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate she doesn’t care if a school is district or charter run, as long as it’s “good.”

Amendment 1

Amendment 1 asks voters whether or not revenues from offshore alternative energy should go towards coastal restoration and protection.

The state currently does not have enough funding for its Coastal Master Plan. Barry Erwin, president and CEO of Council for a Better Louisiana said Amendment 1 is similar to another passed in 2006 where federal money from offshore oil and gas production flows into the state’s Coastal Restoration and Protection Fund.

“We've received hundreds of millions of dollars over the years because of that. What this amendment would do is basically the same,” he told Louisiana Considered. 

A yes vote would mean federal money from the emerging offshore alternative energy industry, which is primarily wind, would go into that same fund for the coast. A no vote would mean the money would go into the state’s general fund, which is spent how the legislature chooses.

There are no completed wind projects off of Louisiana’s Gulf coast yet and currently, the federal government doesn’t share those revenues with states.

PSC Race

Three candidates are running for one open seat to serve as one of Louisiana’s top utility regulators.

The five-member Louisiana Public Service Commission is charged with ensuring public utilities across the state provide safe, reliable and “reasonably priced” service. The powerful agency is one of the least known across the state.

Nick Laborde, Jean-Paul Coussan, and Julie Quinn are competing to represent District 2, which touches 13 parishes including parts of East and West Baton Rouge parishes. Commissioner Craig Greene, a moderate Republican, decided not to run for re-election after eight years in office.

Greene’s seat has been influential, sometimes serving as the deciding vote, as he fell in the center between the two other Republicans on the commission and the two Democrats.


Who are the candidates? 

Nick Laborde is a Democrat from Avoyelles Parish. He lives in Baton Rouge and has built a career in human resources. He went viral in a TikTok video after Hurricane Ida when he taught viewers how to contest their energy bills in Louisiana and contact their utility regulators, including the Public Service Commission. He is the youngest candidate in the race and a newcomer to politics.

Jean-Paul Coussan is currently a Republican state senator, representing part of Lafayette. He was just elected to the State Senate last year after serving in the Louisiana House of Representatives since 2015. The 2024 session was his first in the Senate. While in the House, Coussan chaired the Natural Resources and Environment committee, championing policies that protect the state’s oil and gas industry.

Julie Quinn is a business and government attorney based in Metairie. She’s had the longest career in public office, beginning with a term on the Jefferson Parish School Board in 2001. The Republican also served as a state senator for seven years before taking a break to raise her children. Quinn founded her own law firm, Quinn Law in 2009.


Where do they stand? 

Republicans Coussan and Quinn are both running on conservative platforms. Both have railed against the Biden administration’s creation of tax credits to help incentivize wind and solar development, arguing renewables should be developed without the help of taxpayer dollars. Quinn-Summerville also opposes the federal timeline set for utilities to diversify their energy mix, calling it “unattainable” during the Press Club of Baton Rouge’s candidate forum.

Coussan believes the increase in renewables is “driving out oil and gas jobs” and increasing energy prices. If elected, he said he wants the state’s utilities to take advantage of Louisiana’s natural gas supply and continue to produce much of the state’s energy by burning gas. In a Forum held by the Alliance for Affordable Energy, he said renewables could be used to hedge prices when the cost of natural gas fluctuates like it did in 2022.

Quinn, while supportive of using natural gas, has said she wants to explore the use of micro-nuclear facilities to lower rates. She also would like to see Louisiana utilities lower rates by selling more energy produced by gas to other parts of the country.

Laborde said he wants to see the state expand the use of renewable energy, in part to encourage more regional transmission lines connecting Louisiana to the upper Midwest.

There’s currently a bottleneck that prevents the state from receiving cheaper renewable energy produced in the north from being sold in the south. For the regional electric grid operator to build more transmission lines, the agency is requiring Entergy and other Louisiana utilities to show their commitment to a diverse energy mix.

“They’ll invest when they see us investing in the future,” Laborde said in the Alliance for Affordable Energy forum.

The Democrat also said he’s interested in reinstating “net-metering” statewide, a policy that allows residents with rooftop solar to receive more credit on their bills and be paid more by utilities for any excess power they produce. Residents can then recoup the cost of their panels faster.

All three candidates said they’re committed to holding utilities accountable and maintaining transparency with ratepayers. If elected, Laborde said he supports passing performance-based regulations that give utilities a stronger financial incentive to maintain the grid, conserve energy and develop renewables. He also calls for utilities to publicly submit action plans for creating a grid resilient to disasters.

Quinn said she wants to “rein in unnecessary utility company spending” to help lower rates as well. Coussan said he plans to hold companies accountable for getting power up after storms as quickly as possible.


Who’s paying for their campaign?

Historically, most Public Service Commission candidates have accepted campaign donations from the utilities and companies they will regulate if elected.

Laborde is the only candidate who has pledged not to accept money from utility companies. He’s raised a little over $13,000 to date.

Coussan’s campaign has raised the most money, more than $500,000, including donations from the oil and gas industry as well as utilities. He said that despite accepting the money, his message is his own.

The bulk of Quinn’s contributions have come from regular residents but she began accepting donations from utilities in September to raise more money. She’s spoken out against taking money from lobbyists but felt she needed more money to win the race.


Who’s endorsing who? 

As the sole Democrat, Laborde was endorsed by the Louisiana Democratic Party. He was also endorsed by Commissioner Davante Lewis, the SPLC Action Fund, the Forum for Equality PAC, Voters Organized to Educate and the Sierra Club Delta Chapter.

Quinn and Coussan, on the other hand, have split the Republican Party.

The Republican Party committees from Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Lafourche and Livingston parishes have endorsed Quinn-Summerville, while the committees in Terrebonne and Pointe Coupee parishes endorse Coussan. Lafayette’s committee chose not to endorse either candidate.

Quinn was also endorsed by former state GOP chairs Roger Villere and Louis Gurvich as well as major Republican donor Boysie Bollinger. Coussan was endorsed by the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association’s political action committee, the State Senate president, the Louisiana Manufacturers Political Action Committee, the Home Builders Political Action Committee and the majority of Republican State Central Committee members from the district.

Workers’ Bill of Rights

New Orleans residents are heading to the polls this fall to help decide the nation’s next president. But they’ll also vote on a number of local issues, including whether to add a “Workers’ Bill of Rights” to the city’s charter.

If approved, the amendment would list “fair wages, comprehensive healthcare coverage, paid leave” and other workplace benefits as fundamental rights for the city’s workforce.

The language would be largely symbolic. Employers in the city wouldn’t be bound by it because the city’s charter doesn’t create any enforceable rights beyond what's required under the U.S. Constitution.

But supporters, including members of the current city council, say the change would send a message about New Orleans’ values at a time when many workers are struggling to afford housing and everyday needs. And it could help guide future policy decisions. The effort hasn’t seen any highly-visible opposition campaigns.

To learn more about the proposed amendment, WWNO host Diane Mack sat down with Ben Zucker, co-director of Step-Up Louisiana, a grassroots political advocacy organization that helped bring the idea to city council.

You can listen to the full interview here.

Housing trust fund

Affordable housing is getting harder to find in New Orleans, and city leaders want to put millions in taxpayer dollars toward solving the issue.

Residents will see a question on their ballot on Election Day asking them to vote “yes” or “no” on an amendment to the city’s charter that would establish a trust fund for affordable housing in New Orleans.

The amendment states: “Shall Article VI of the Home Rule Charter of the City of New Orleans be amended to establish a Housing Trust Fund dedicated exclusively to ensuring the availability of affordable housing within the City, and to require an annual appropriation of at least two percent of the City’s annual general fund to the Housing Trust Fund.”

New Orleans’ charter is its foundational governing document that lays out everything from the mayor’s powers to city spending requirements. Charter amendments require voter approval.

Supporters say it will dramatically help the city boost the supply of apartments and homes that are affordable to people who are middle class and low-income without increasing taxes. Critics argue a charter amendment is too rigid, and could tie the city’s hands if budget priorities change in the future.


What happens if it passes?

If voters approve the amendment, the city will be required to start budgeting 2% of its general fund every year for the Housing Trust Fund starting in 2026. Supporters say that would come out to roughly $17 million in local funds a year, which would be the largest investment of its kind in city history.

The funds will have set uses. They can go towards the creation of “affordable rental housing, preservation of affordable rental housing and the creation of affordable homeownership opportunities,” according to the measure.

Administration of the fund will fall on the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and Finance New Orleans, two quasi-government housing development agencies. The city council will also create an advisory committee to help the agencies pick what to spend the money on.

City council will have the final say on what the money gets used for each year.

Who supports it?


The amendment is supported by all seven city council members and a large contingent of housing advocates.

They stress that the change is not a new tax. Lesli Harris, District B representative, helped bring the idea forward and is its main council spokesperson.

“We direly need additional rental units,” Harris said. “And we know that we're losing population because we lack affordable home ownership opportunities. And because of that, New Orleans’ economy is declining.”

The hope behind the charter amendment, Harris said, is that its permanency will help spur more interest from affordable housing developers, who struggle to break ground on projects due to high insurance premiums and labor shortages.

“This would really fill the gap for financing,” Harris said. “If there’s a permanent driver of building happening, that creates jobs. It’s a really circular path of economic growth.”

Developers agree, said Oji Alexander, CEO of People’s Housing+, an affordable housing developer with multiple housing projects in progress across the city.

“As long as we know that our piece is there and our piece is there annually, we can plan better. And it helps us get to the finish line,” he said.

The “yes” campaign has solid financial backing. NOLA FIRST PAC, a political action committee supporting it, reported receiving over $16,000 in contributions for advertising and promotions.


Who is against it?

At least one prominent nonprofit research group, the Bureau of Governmental Research, has come out against the measure.

Its main concern is the rigidity of a charter amendment, said Rebecca Mowbray, BGR’s CEO.

“That is very, very hard to change in the future,” she said. “There are potential problems about how give future city councils and mayors the flexibility they need to deal with whatever is in front of them.”

Many cities across the country fund affordable housing initiatives through ordinances, which don’t require voter approval and can be modified year-over-year, Mowbray said.

“It's unusual to put such a level of detail in a framework document like a city charter,” she said. “We view that as a risk even as we agree on the need to do something about housing because it is a real problem in the city.”


What happens if it doesn’t pass?

If residents vote the amendment down, then the charter won’t change. But the city is still poised to make a major investment in affordable housing development.

Ahead of the election, the council passed a separate ordinance that would require an annual investment of $20 million into an “Affordable Workforce Housing Fund” should the charter amendment fail.

Supporters of the amendment, including the city council, say the so called “backup” fund would be less steady. That’s because the city could fulfill its obligation using federal grants or other sources.

“And the council could change or eliminate the dedication at any time by passing another ordinance,” said Mowbray. “All of this could mean less new local investment than the proposed charter amendment.”