RS 18:1462.1

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RS 18:1462.1

§1462.1. Registration of persons conducting exit polling during early voting or on election day; penalties

A. The Legislature of Louisiana recognizes that the right to vote is a right that is essential to the effective operation of a democratic government and that voters should be free from intimidation, harassment, confusion, obstruction, and undue influence in the campaign-free zone provided in R.S. 18:1462(A) by individuals conducting exit polling who have not registered with the secretary of state.

(1)No person shall conduct an exit poll between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. within any polling place being used in an election on election day or during early voting, or within a radius of six hundred feet of the entrance to any polling place being used in an election on election day or during early voting, unless the person conducting the polling has filed a registration statement with the secretary of state prior to the start of early voting or election day, as applicable. The registration statement may be filed in person, by facsimile, or by electronic mail.

(2)The exit poll shall be conducted in a nondisruptive manner.

C. Whoever violates this Section shall be fined one hundred dollars or be imprisoned for ten days, or both, for the first offense. For a second offense, the penalty shall be a fine of two hundred dollars or imprisonment for ten days, or both. For a third or subsequent offense, the penalty shall be a fine of five hundred dollars or imprisonment for ten days, or both.

D.(1) "Exit poll" as used in this Section shall mean a poll of voters by a bona fide news gathering organization as defined in R.S. 44:3.1.1 leaving a polling place to gather basic demographic information and determine how voters voted on candidates and propositions in an election.

(2)The term "exit poll" shall not be construed to include polls about races, propositions, or issues not on the ballot, or dissemination of information to voters.

Acts 2021, No. 13, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2022; Acts 2025, No. 37, §1.