---
type: "Bill"
title: "VOTERS/VOTING: Provides relative to counting absentee and early voting ballots."
description: "VOTERS/VOTING: Provides relative to counting absentee and early voting ballots."
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 397"
citation: "Louisiana SB 397 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Louie Bernard"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 20
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-02-28"
last_action: "2020-06-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b83fe1db-d6da-406f-aac0-c2f5e1db4d36"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=238496"
source_hash: "9f3babbd2de9409b14835ccd6f769c229470585eaa39a7ffd77a23e25dbe0daa"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-la"]
---

# Louisiana SB 397 (2020) — VOTERS/VOTING: Provides relative to counting absentee and early voting ballots.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **SB397 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1164311)
2. **House Committee Amendment, #2648, H&G, Draft** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1176208)
3. **House Committee Amendment, #2672, H&G, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1176403)
4. **House Floor Amendment, #2719, Dwight, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1176642)
5. **SB397 Act 354** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1182606)
6. **SB397 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1170026)
7. **SB397 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1172474)
8. **Senate Floor Legislative Bureau Amendment, #1200, Mills, Fred, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1170769)
9. **SB397 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1178497)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#183) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE (#571) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- CONCUR (#643) — **33–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Louie Bernard — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-06-12** Effective date 6/12/2020.
- **2020-06-12** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 354. `executive-signature`
- **2020-06-01** Sent to the Governor by the Secretary of the Senate on 6/2/2020. `executive-receipt`
- **2020-06-01** Signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2020-06-01** Enrolled. Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2020-05-31** Amendments proposed by the House read and concurred in by a vote of 33 yeas and 0 nays.
- **2020-05-29** Received from the House with amendments.
- **2020-05-29** Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 97, nays 0. Finally passed, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2020-05-27** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/29/20.
- **2020-05-27** Read by title, amended, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2020-05-27** Rules suspended.
- **2020-05-27** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments.
- **2020-05-27** Reported with amendments (13-0-1). Referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2020-05-18** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs. `referral-committee`
- **2020-05-15** Received in the House from the Senate, read by title, lies over under the rules.
- **2020-05-14** Read by title, passed by a vote of 32 yeas and 0 nays; ordered reengrossed and sent to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2020-05-11** Senate floor amendments read and adopted; read by title and returned to its regular order on third reading and final passage.
- **2020-05-07** Reported favorably. Rules suspended. Read by title; ordered engrossed and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2020-03-09** Introduced in the Senate; read by title. Rules suspended. Read second time and referred to the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs. `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-28** Prefiled and under the rules provisionally referred to the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs. `filing, referral-committee`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b83fe1db-d6da-406f-aac0-c2f5e1db4d36`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).