A bill that would allow the Louisiana Republican and Democratic parties to prevent no-party voters from participating in their closed primaries is two steps away from becoming law.
House Bill 906, sponsored by Rep. Beth Billings (R-Destrehan) is awaiting a vote in the full Senate. On Thursday, Senate leaders referred the bill to the Legislative Bureau for a technical study. There's no word on when the Senate will consider the bill.
Under the current law, congressional, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Public Service Commission, and Louisiana Supreme are held under the closed primary system, while all other races are contested under the open "jungle" primary system.
If this bill becomes law, could we see Louisiana lawmakers switch other races from open primaries to closed primaries?
"I would not be at all surprised," University of Louisiana at Monroe political science professor Pearson Cross said.
If HB 906 becomes law, it could result in the state's more than 800,000 no-party voters--nearly one-third of the state's active voters--having no say in what candidates appear on the general election ballot.
Cross says lawmakers aren't risking much by shutting those voters out of closed primary races.
"Voters will be mad about this, but it's also true no matter what you do," Cross said.
In fact, Cross says lawmakers are willing to take the risk of angering those voters because partisan primaries serve a huge purpose for Louisiana's politicians.
"The people in the legislature, the people who write the bills, are in fact writing bills that actually make it easier for them to get reelected in almost every case," Cross said.
Cross says voter anger likely won't manifest into any action to vote out any legislators or other state officials, nor does he believe that anger will spur lawmakers to return congressional races to the open primary system.
"The chances that they are going to be motivated to change that are going to be slim," Cross said.
According to Cross, this bill could be a sign that Louisiana lawmakers are open to moving the races still held under the jungle primary system to the closed party set-up.
"Right now, partisanship is at an all-time high, and people are very conscious of which party they belong to," Cross said. "Partisanship is an identity for people, and so moving the state election system more in this direction and having an intense party competion is the wave of the future, and it's not over yet."
