Louisiana's governor moved to halt the state's congressional primary elections this week, triggering immediate legal pushback from voting rights organizations and a Democratic candidate who argue the suspension violates election law and threatens voters who have already cast ballots.
Governor Jeff Landry ordered the suspension on Thursday, stopping the primary even after early voting had commenced. His stated reason: to allow the state to redraw congressional districts in response to a federal court decision that struck down existing map boundaries. The U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v Callais, handed down Wednesday, invalidated portions of the Voting Rights Act and found that one Louisiana congressional district with a nonwhite voting majority ran afoul of constitutional equal protection standards.
Under Landry's directive, votes cast in the congressional race will remain on ballots but will not be counted. Other contests on the May 16 primary, including ballot measures on state constitutional amendments, will proceed normally.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Friday on behalf of four voting rights organizations and three individual voters, seeking to block Landry and Secretary of State Nancy Landry from enforcing the suspension. The plaintiffs include the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the Louisiana state conference of the NAACP, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and voters Ambrose Sims Jr, Joyce Davis Sims, and Phyllis V Mercadel, all of whom have already submitted absentee ballots in Louisiana's fifth congressional district.
The lawsuit, filed in state court in Baton Rouge, argues that election suspensions have historically been reserved for extraordinary circumstances such as natural disasters or public health emergencies. A Supreme Court ruling, the plaintiffs contend, does not qualify as a state emergency under Louisiana law and does not justify halting an election already underway.
"The executive order sows chaos into an already-confusing election and puts Louisianians' votes at risk, especially those who have already cast absentee ballots," the NAACP said in a statement.
The suspension has also triggered a federal lawsuit. Democratic congressional candidate Lindsey Garcia sued in Louisiana federal court Thursday, contending that the number of absentee ballots already returned creates constitutional due process concerns and potentially violates federal election timing requirements.
The fifth congressional district targeted by the Supreme Court decision would likely be redrawn by Republican mapmakers following the Callais decision, a shift that could alter the district's electoral landscape.
Author James Rodriguez: "Halting an election mid-stream over redistricting is a dangerous precedent, and the state's own plaintiffs are already on record against it through their ballots."
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