Louisiana has since the 1970s had an open primary system for electing its public officials, whereby candidates (regardless of party) run on the same primary and/or general election ballot. That system was modified over a year ago, when a “semi closed” primary with party primaries/runoffs/general elections was resuscitated for “top of the ballot” offices like U.S. Senate, U.S. House, PSC (Public Service Commission), BESE (the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education), and the Louisiana Supreme Court.
These changes are scheduled to take effect with party primaries on April 18, 2026 for “top of the ballot” offices. However, depending on how the US Supreme Court rules in a pending redistricting case, there is the possibility of changes to Congressional district lines, and with qualifying set to begin on January 14 for those April primaries, those primary dates may be problematic. Therefore, Governor Landry has called a special session scheduled to start on October 23 with the stated purpose of legislating “election dates, election deadlines, and election plans for the 2026 election cycle.”
With the possibility of changes being made to election laws for the 2026 election cycle, JMC Analytics and Polling was recently commissioned by Unite America to poll Louisianians about the state’s primary system/making changes to the implementation dates of party primaries. Major takeaways from that poll are as follows:
(1) Louisiana’s open primary system remains overwhelmingly favored by voters – regardless of the respondent’s party affiliation,
(2) There remains minimal voter appetite for changing to a closed primary (in fact, voters overwhelmingly want to return to open primaries),
(3) overwhelming majorities favor either delaying or repealing the closed primaries,
(4) An absolute majority of voters is still less likely to favor an elected official who wants to change from the current open primary system (conversely, an elected official who wants either to repeal or delay implementation of closed primaries would get overwhelming support from voters)
