BATON ROUGE - Louisiana college students will be able to use their university ID cards to vote in state elections in 2019.

Gov. John Bel Edwards' office announced this week that the governor signed the proposal into law this week.

The bill by Rep. Randal Gaines, a LaPlace Democrat, calls for the higher education system governing boards to ensure that the student identification cards they issue meet voter ID requirements within less than three years.

Louisiana's community and technical colleges are excluded from the measure.

The new law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2019.

Both the House and Senate gave unanimous support to the measure during the regular legislative session.