CLOSED PARTY PRIMARIES IN LOUISIANA
Background
At the January 2024 extraordinary session of the Louisiana Legislature, a bill was passed to shift to closed party primaries for federal offices (U.S. Senator and Representatives to Congress, along with multidistrict races for Public Service Commission (PSC), Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), and the Louisiana Supreme Court. Aside from presidential primaries, which are always closed party primaries, Louisiana has not had closed party primaries for more than a decade.
The move was a surprise to many Louisianans, who have cherished completely open “jungle” primaries. Polls showed that most Louisianans disapproved of the change, and bills have already been proposed at the Legislature to backtrack and revert back to open primaries in some races. The change to closed party primaries has been so significant, that the Louisiana Secretary of State has had to produce educational materials for the public on how they will proceed. On this page, we monitor the debate over closed versus open primaries in Louisiana and provide resources for the public to understand the issue.
LWV of Louisiana has been following the closed party primary debate in Louisiana since it was revived in in 2020 by the Closed Primary Task Force, convened by then Senator Sharon Hewitt. The task force led to the introduction of a bill in 2022, that was withdrawn before that crucial hearing. But during the public comments that were allowed on the withdrawn bill at that hearing, the League provided testimony, based on research by its own members–trained political scientists by profession, no less–about some of the data on closed party primaries. You can listen to our recent discussion of closed party primaries on the radio program “Talk Louisiana” here.
Specifically, there is data to show that the closed party primaries reduce voter participation in three key ways: (1) they reduce voter participation overall, (2) they reduce participation by No Party (also known as “unaffiliated” or “independent” voters) and Third Party voters, and (3) that they reduce participation by the crucial pipeline of young voters, who have increasingly registered unaffiliated with parties in recent years.
Louisiana Secretary of State Resources
Closed Party Primary Information Page
- K–Keep your voter information current.
- N–Not everyone will vote in every race.
- O–Offices affected: U.S. House and Senate, PSC, BESE, & LA Supreme Court.
- W–Where to find more information: GeauxVote.com!
Informational Resources
“Guest column: There’s more voter participation in the jungle“, The Advocate, April 13, 2021.
“Not Invited to the Party Primary: Independent Voters and the Problem with Closed Primaries”, Unite America Institute, February 2024.
Research Brief: Significant Share of Young Voters Are Independents, Unite America Institute, November 15, 2024.
Letters to the Editor
“Letters: Lawmakers conspired against voters by enacting closed primaries“, The Advocate, December 15, 2025.“Letters: Public should have a say on closed primaries“, The Advocate, November 26, 2025.