Elections in Louisiana
Elections in Louisiana |
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Government |
The political balance in
Since that election, Republicans have rapidly come to control nearly every federal and statewide office. Both
In 2010, several Democrats switched parties bringing the statehouse under Republican control. In 2011, the special election victories of Fred Mills and Jonathan Perry switched the balance of power in the state senate, leaving Republicans in control of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Also, the party switch of Attorney General Buddy Caldwell caused the Republican party to control every statewide office. However, this was broken in 2015, when Democrat John Bel Edwards won the governor's race.
Republicans won the first Senate seat since Reconstruction in 2004, with the election of David Vitter. He became the first popularly elected Republican Senator as well. In 2014, Republicans won both Senate seats for the first time since 1872.
Voting System
Since 1977 state elections in
Louisiana is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years. (The others are Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia). Louisiana holds elections for these offices every four years in the year preceding a presidential election. Thus, the two most recent gubernatorial elections in Louisiana took place in 2015 and 2019. Louisiana is one of 18 states that run separate elections for governor and lieutenant governor, a process that has resulted in governor-lieutenant governor pairs from different parties and/or widely differing political ideologies.
Louisiana's unique primary system was instituted in 1975 by Democratic governor Edwin Edwards.[3] Until 1997, the open primary election was held in October, meaning that no election would be held in November if the leading candidate won over 50 percent of the vote in October.[3] Between 2008 and 2010, federal races did not use the jungle primary system.[4][5] Between the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Shelby County v. Holder (a 2013 Supreme Court case), changes to Louisiana election law required preclearance with the United States Department of Justice.[6]
Elections in Louisiana fall under the purview of the
See also
- New Orleans mayoral elections
- Political party strength in Louisiana
- 2020 Louisiana elections
- United States presidential elections in Louisiana
References
- ^ Brinlee, Morgan. "Louisiana Has Something Called A Jungle Primary". Bustle. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
- The Times-Picayune. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
- ^ a b Mooney, Chris (13 November 2002). "Why Does Louisiana Have Such an Odd Election System?". Slate.com. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
- ^ "Louisiana Law Search". Legis.state.la.us. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
- ^ [1] Archived 2010-08-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Liptak, Adam (25 June 2013). "Supreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
- S2CID 225139517. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
External links
- Geaux Vote at the Louisiana Secretary of State official website
- Louisiana at Ballotpedia
- Louisiana Elections & Politics from The Times-Picayunenewspaper
- "State Elections Legislation Database", Ncsl.org, Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Legislatures,
State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year, 2020