Several primary elections will be held in the US state of Louisiana on Thursday, including elections for the US Senate, state Supreme Court and local offices.
In particular, he will be absent from the primary elections in which Democratic and Republican lawmakers will choose candidates for the state’s six U.S. House districts ahead of the general election in November.
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Primary voting was suspended by the governor following a landmark Supreme Court ruling that opens the door to a redrawing of the state’s congressional district maps that would eliminate one of the two majority-black districts.
Human rights groups are challenging the suspension, arguing it violates both the U.S. and state constitutions.
The situation comes amid a broader national redistricting battle that is shifting the electoral calculus of both parties ahead of critical midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. House and Senate and, in turn, set the tone for the final two years of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term.
Here’s what you need to know:
What did the Supreme Court’s decision lead to?
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in late April struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was meant to prevent the dilution of Black voting power.
This can be achieved by effectively dividing areas with large black populations to weaken their electoral influence. Black voters in the United States have historically skewed heavily toward the Democratic Party.
The ruling said that Congressional districts can only be challenged if there is evidence of racist motives behind the way they were drawn. Dissenting liberal judges and commentators say it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to prove such a motive.
Specifically related to Louisiana, the court ruled that a January 2024 congressional map that created the state’s second-most black majority district was unconstitutional.
The map was created in response to a legal challenge claiming that Louisiana violates the Voting Rights Act because black residents make up one-third of the state’s electorate, but only one out of six majority-black districts has a black majority.
Why did Louisiana cancel its primaries?
The April 29 Supreme Court decision came about two weeks before Louisiana’s U.S. House primary election was scheduled.
That left the state’s Republican lawmakers scrambling to draw new maps ahead of the vote.
“Allowing an election to proceed under an unconstitutional map undermines the integrity of our system and violates the rights of voters,” Governor Jeff Landry said in a statement on April 30.
He said the voting stop order “will give the (state) Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and legal congressional map while ensuring the rule of law is upheld.”
On Wednesday, Republicans in the Louisiana Senate introduced the first redrawn map.
What are rights groups saying?
A coalition of voter and civil rights groups is challenging the suspension of the election, saying some voters may have already cast their votes, including members of the military and those voting “absentee.”
Additionally, he said an abrupt change in date would confuse and ultimately disenfranchise voters, while weakening voter education groups already distributing information about the election.
“This unlawful executive order threatens the integrity of our democratic system and ignores the voices of voters who have already faithfully participated in the May primary elections,” groups including the Legal Defense Fund, the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Harvard Law School Race and Law Clinic said in a joint statement in early May.
“By attempting to cancel an election in progress, state officials are creating chaos, undermining public trust, and putting partisan interests ahead of the constitutional rights of Louisiana voters,” the statement said.
What is the broader context?
The southern state’s standoff comes amid a wave of broader and unusual congressional redistricting in the United States.
Redistricting has traditionally been done every 10 years following the U.S. Census count, but President Trump last year called on the Texas Republican Party to redraw the state’s maps to create more Republican-leaning districts.
That set off a series of retaliatory redistricting efforts by Democratic and Republican-controlled state legislatures. So far, the US states of California, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, Utah, Tennessee and Florida have redrawn their maps ahead of midterm elections.
With this push, Republicans are expected to gain more seats than Democrats. Although this is expected to reduce margins, Democrats remain tentatively favored to take back the U.S. House of Representatives in November.
