Legislation that would have established a closed party primary system for Louisiana congressional elections gets shelved for the session.
Slidell Senator Sharon Hewitt wrote the bill. She said under the current jungle primary system voters don’t have much incentive to make sure they register with a party that matches their views.
“In many cases, people’s party registration does not necessarily line up with their voting record. It would provide for better alignment and growth of the parties by better aligning your registration with your voting record,” said Hewitt.
The bill had a 5.5 million dollar price tag due to the need to hold an additional election every cycle, and concerns were raised about the logistics of holding that extra election and how it could create a logjam.
Louisiana GOP Deputy Chairman Charlie Buckles said the party authored a resolution in support of the bill. He says the jungle primary system results in elections that are less issue-based.
“Right now our election system, unfortunately, is replete with campaign tactics that say I’m not necessarily running on the issues, just vote for me because my opponent is a rat,” said Buckles.
Louisiana is one of the few states in the nation that does not have a closed primary system.
Libertarian Party activist Mike Wolf said moving to closed primaries would produce candidates that more consistently represent their party’s mainstream views.
“It allows more intelligent voting because more information is given to the voters,” said Wolf. “If political party labels are meaningful then they tell the voter something about the candidate.”
Opponents argued closed primaries would result in more ideologically extreme candidates and give independent and no party voters less of a say in politics.
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