A new law requiring proof of citizenship to register in Louisiana went into effect January 1st. But so far, there’s no guidance on what documentation is needed. The legislation approved by lawmakers, Senate Bill 436 / Act 500
stipulates “To require proof of United States Citizenship with an application for registration.” Absent is any mention of what qualifies as proof of citizenship.
As Brooke Thorington with Louisiana Public Radio reports, while it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote, Louisiana lawmakers easily approved this legislation with a final vote of 28-8 in the Senate and 68-26 in the House. The Louisiana Secretary of State’s office previously said they would examine best practices from other states. But to date, there’s still no instructions.
Michelle Cantor-Cowen with the national voting rights organization Fair Election Center says when non-citizens do vote it’s extremely rare. “And when it does happen, it’s often a mistake. There are extremely harsh consequences of deportation and prison time that really sufficiently deter non-citizens from voting.”
Kanter-Cohen said around 10% of eligible voting Americans do not have proof of citizenship. “And those citizens are more likely to be women, low-income people and from communities of color.” Since 2022, the secretary of state’s office says 48 non-citizens have been removed from Louisiana’s voting rolls.
After the 2016 election, an exhaustive study of 42 jurisdictions by the Brennan Center for Justice, at NYU School of Law, found 30 cases of suspected noncitizen voting out of 23.5 million votes cast, or 0.0001%.
Reporting by the Washington Post found 85 cases of alleged noncitizen voting between 2002 and 2023.

Similar legislation in the U.S. House, H.R. 8281, better known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or SAVE Act, won approval July 10, 2024 largely along party lines 221-198, but died the Senate. It was a proposed amendment to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The text of this bill did spell out acceptable forms of proof of citizenship. They include a form of identification issued consistent with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 which include a driver’s license or identification card, valid U.S. passport, certified birth certificate, U.S. military ID, student ID, or naturalization certificate.
January 15 was the final day to register by mail to vote in the February 15 election. The deadline to register through the GeauxVote Online Registration System is Jan. 25. The next statewide election is set for March 29, when voters will decide on constitutional amendments passed in the special session on tax reform.