§1334.  Electioneering in connection with voting in nursing homes; enforcement; penalty

A.  During the period extending from seven days prior to the time that voting begins pursuant to R.S. 18:1333 for an election until the polls have closed on election day, no owner, operator, employee, or agent of such owner, operator, or employee, or any stockholder of any nursing home or candidate or employee of or agent or worker for any candidate shall perform or cause to be performed any of the following acts while on duty or on the premises of the facility:

(1)  Solicit in any manner or by any means whatsoever any person residing in a nursing home to vote for or against any candidate or proposition being voted on in the election.

(2)  Hand out, place, or display campaign cards, pictures, or other campaign literature of any kind or description in the nursing home.

(3)  Place or display political signs, pictures, or other forms of political advertising in the nursing home.

B.  The law enforcement officers of the political subdivision in which any such election is to be held shall enforce the provisions of this Section when requested to do so by any person.  The law enforcement officers shall seize and remove any political cards, signs, pictures, or literature used or displayed in violation of any provision of this Section.

C.  Whoever violates any provision of this Section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.  For a second offense or any succeeding offense, the penalty shall be a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

D.(1)  The provisions of this Section shall not prohibit a person, who is not an owner, operator, employee, or agent of such owner, operator, or employee, or any stockholder of any nursing home from performing any of the listed acts in a nursing home in which he is a resident.  However, such a person shall not erect in or affix to any of the common areas of the nursing home any political signs, pictures, or other forms of political advertising, or display any such political material within the common areas of the nursing home on the day when the registrar of voters conducts absentee voting at the nursing home.

(2)  The provisions of this Section shall not prohibit a person who is not an owner, operator, employee, or agent of such owner, operator, or employee, or any stockholder of any nursing home and who at the direction of or with the consent of a resident of a nursing home from placing political signs, pictures, or other forms of political advertising in the resident's private room in the nursing home.

Added by Acts 1983, No. 500, §1; eff. Jan. 1, 1984; Acts 2001, No. 1181, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; Acts 2005, No. 220, §4, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; Acts 2006, No. 403, §1, eff. June 15, 2006; Acts 2009, No. 436, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2010.