On June 18, the number of Republicans registered in Louisiana inched past the number of Democrats.
Large numbers of older Democrats have been mostly voting Republican for many years now, and the GOP has been closing the registration gap for some time. But this year’s shift to party primaries for certain offices provided extra motivation for right-leaning voters to make the switch.
“I have to believe that did help to push some people to go ahead and make a change,” Louisiana Republican Party Executive Director Derek Babcock says, noting that voters who wanted to participate in a Republican primary also could have registered “no party.” “But a lot of them chose to go ahead and register Republican.”
The new system also created some confusion among voters and poll workers, though clerks of court who oversee elections at the local level say everything ran more smoothly in June than during the first go-around in May. How well the system worked, or didn’t work, is likely to be a topic of conversation next year as legislators discuss whether they want to keep the new system, scrap it or double down on it.
Trey Williams, spokesperson for Secretary of State Nancy Landry, declined an interview request on her behalf, saying it was a little early for an election postmortem.
“Any time there is significant change to election procedures, there is naturally a learning curve for all involved—voters, candidates, poll commissioners and election officials,” Williams said by text. “Overall, the election in May was conducted successfully. The election in June built on that and also was conducted successfully.”
Babcock says the state GOP didn’t hear many complaints from voters, and credited Landry and her team for their robust education effort.
“No matter how much effort you put into trying to educate people, there’s going to be somebody who just didn’t see it,” he says. “I’m not saying nobody complained, but we did not get a lot of complaints.”
Democrats, on the other hand, said they heard complaints about “mass confusion” at the polls in May and suggested potential litigation in response, though the party has not filed lawsuits over it. Randal Gaines, who chairs the state Democratic Party, said that in many cases, poll workers didn’t seem to fully understand the rules and gave incorrect information to Democratic voters, and suggested that sowing confusion may have been Gov. Jeff Landry’s goal when he pushed lawmakers to implement the new system.
“I always say that if the consequences are obvious, then the intent is obvious,” Gaines says.
He says state Dems are working with the national party on a “voter protection program” ahead of the November election that will include a new staff member.
There’s a good chance some lawmakers will file bills next year seeking to go back to the open primary system for all offices, while others would like to add more offices (such as statewide elected officials) to the party primary format that currently includes the Public Service Commission, the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Congress. This year’s U.S. House races will have open primaries because of the timing issues the U.S. Supreme Court created when justices threw out the congressional map, but future elections would use party primaries under current law.
Babcock says he’s not sure if there is an appetite for adding offices to the party primary system, but he does expect to see another bid to give the two major parties the option to hold truly closed primaries that bar “no party” voters from participating. Rep. Beth Billings had a bill to that effect this year that passed the House but didn’t get a hearing in the Senate.
Grant Parish Clerk of Court Randy Briggs, the new president of the state clerks’ association, says some voters were confused by the new experience of poll commissioners asking them which ballot they wanted.
“Anytime you do anything new, it’s going to be a challenge to pull it off,” he says. “But I think overall, we were able to implement the Legislature’s plan with accuracy.”
Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret says he had an extra person at all of his 50 voting locations to help voters make sure they were in the right line, which created an additional expense for his office. While implementing the new system took more time and effort, low turnout made things easier, he says.
“God forbid if we would have had a governor’s race, 50%, 45% turnout, you’d still have people screaming, and possibly people still in line, from the May primary,” he says.
Brandon Abadie, who administers elections for the clerk’s office in East Baton Rouge Parish, says the May election “was a little bumpy,” but his office got far fewer complaints in June.
Turnout was lower in June, and most of the people who did show up also voted in May, so they knew the drill, Abadie says.
He says some voters were angry when they discovered they couldn’t participate in their preferred primary because their registration didn’t match the party. Many folks who weren’t mad still said they weren’t happy with the change and wished Louisiana would go back to the old system, he says, a sentiment that may or may not dissipate with time.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
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