Louisiana has suspended its upcoming primaries for the U.S. House, following Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state’s congressional map is an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
The rest of Louisiana’s primaries, including for U.S. Senate, will proceed as scheduled, with early voting starting Saturday and the primary date set for May 16.
It’s unclear when the House races will continue.
“Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters, Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, said in a statement announcing the suspension. “This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map.”
The last-minute change follows the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday in a case about Louisiana’s congressional map that weakens protections against racial discrimination in redistricting.
The ruling centered on one of the state’s two Democratic-held, predominantly Black U.S. House districts. It’s expected that the Republican-led legislature will now redraw its congressional map to eliminate at least one of those Democratic seats in this year’s midterm elections.
In a statement, Secretary of State Nancy Landry, a Republican, said: “Our office will post notices at each of the early voting sites to alert the public of this change. While the U.S. House races will remain on voters’ ballots, any votes cast in those races will not be counted.”
Absentee ballots for the state primary have already been sent out.
