The Louisiana House has approved a bill that would change congressional, statewide, legislative, and certain judicial elections to closed primaries. If it becomes law, the Republican and Democratic Party can set up a rule that says only registered voters of their party can vote in the primaries. Harahan Representative John Illg said he’s hearing from Independents who do not like this…
“Number of concerns and calls, from people that are Independent wanting to make sure they aren’t going to be left out,” said Illg.
Carencro Representative Julie Emerson is the sponsor of the legislation. Emerson said the political parties should have more of a say on which candidate ends up on the general election ballot…
“We are talking about a party primary process, for the individual parties and members of those parties are choosing their nominee to go to on the general election ballot,” said Emerson.
Emerson’s bill passed on a 64-40 vote. But New Orleans Representative Matthew Willard said there was a recent poll that showed the public favors the state’s unique jungle primary…
“We all have seen this poll that speaks for the people of Louisiana and in that poll 65% of the people polled strongly support or support our current primary system,” said Willard.
Governor Jeff Landry said states that perform better than Louisiana have closed primaries. He said a closed primary system results in strong candidates on the general election ballot.
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