U.S. Attorney urges Western District residents to register to vote

SHREVEPORT, LAFAYETTE, MONROE, ALEXANDRIA, LAKE CHARLES, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley urged residents of the Western District of Louisiana to register to vote in observance of National Voter Registration Day.

National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) is dedicated to ensuring every American is registered to vote at their current address in time for the next election. National Voter Registration Day is celebrated on the fourth Tuesday of every September by thousands of volunteers, celebrities, organizations, businesses and elected officials from all over the country. More than 600 voter registration events were hosted nationwide as part of this year’s NVRD. To find out more about NVRD, visit nationalvoterregistrationday.org.

In Louisiana, registering can be done in person, by mail or online and is open throughout the year.  Registration to be eligible to vote in the October 24^th election has ended, but registration to be eligible to vote in the November 21^st election is open until October 22^nd.  Eligibility to register to vote in an election ends 30 days before that election. To find out more, call the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office at 225-922-0900.

Upcoming elections for Louisiana are October 24^th for the primary and November 21^st for general. Early voting is October 10^th to October 17^th (except Sunday) from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the October 24^th primary election, and November 7^th to November 14^th (except Sunday) from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the November 21^st general election.  Residents should contact their local Registrar of Voters’ Office to determine their voting location.  Download a sample ballot or obtain other election information by visiting the Louisiana Secretary of State’s web page at www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting.

“The right to vote is essential to maintaining our system of democracy,” Finley stated. “One of the Department of Justice’s most sacred responsibilities is ensuring access to the ballot box for every eligible American in the Western District of Louisiana.”

Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.

Complaints of election fraud or voting rights violations should be directed to the FBI, who will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations.  The local FBI field offices can be reached by the public at the following telephone numbers: Shreveport at 318-861-1890, Lafayette at 337-233-2164, Monroe at (318) 387-0773, Alexandria at (318) 443-5097 and Lake Charles at (337) 433-6353. For a complete list of FBI field offices in Louisiana visit www.fbi.gov/neworleans/contact-us/territory-jurisdiction. The U.S. Attorney’s Office can be reached by the public at 318-676-3600 (Shreveport) or 337-262-6618 (Lafayette).

Complaints about ballot access problems or discrimination can also be made directly to the Civil Rights Division=s Voting Section in Washington, D.C., at 1-800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767. The division’s email address is voting.section@usdoj.gov, and voter complaints also can be filed online at www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake.

The Civil Rights Division=s Voting Section enforces six federal statutes. They are the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and the Help America Vote Act of 2002. For more information on the acts that the division enforces, visit www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/overview.php.