Louisiana
Louisiana’s new closed party primary causes confusion at the polls on election day
Louisiana’s new closed party primary system on Saturday left many voters confused and election commissioners exasperated.
Most of the angst centered on the new rules for no-party voters, who have to choose whether to vote Democratic, Republican or no-party on a one-page form called Declaration of Ballot Choice.
Election commissioners reported delays throughout the day from having to explain the new process to no-party voters and then having those voters choose which election to vote in.
No-party voters who checked the “no-party” box found when they went behind the curtain that they could not vote in the high-profile Senate election for one of the Republican or Democratic candidates. To do that, they had to check the box for Republican or Democratic.
Louis Perret, the clerk of court in Lafayette Parish, said one election commissioner was so frustrated that she went home for lunch on Saturday and didn’t return.
“I’ve been here 22 years,” said Diane Broussard, the clerk of court in Vermillion Parish. “By far, this has been the worst election. I’m on a text chain with other clerks of court. There’s confusion throughout the state.”
Broussard and other clerks of court reported another problem: Some people who have been registered as Democrat for years, but who typically vote Republican, showed up not realizing that, under the semi-closed party primary, they could only vote for a Democrat.
“The closed party primary is idiotic. It’s a waste of money,” said Harry LeBlanc, a retiree and no-party voter, after he voted at Lakeshore Playground in Metairie. “I don’t understand why it exists except for the parties trying to give themselves an advantage.”
LeBlanc noted that, having chosen on Saturday to vote in the Republican primary, he will now have to vote for Republicans in the June 27 runoff as well.
“That takes away choices,” LeBlanc said.
Polling stations are open on Saturday until 8 p.m. Many polling stations reported no problems on Saturday.
Early voting from May 2-9 also produced many problems.
In the Senate election, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming are trying to unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy, as is little-known business owner Mark Spencer.
Three Democrats are on the ballot Saturday in a separate party primary. They are Jamie Davis, a farmer from northeast Louisiana who has the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party; Nick Albares, a policy analyst in New Orleans who has the support of his former boss, ex-Gov. John Bel Edwards; and Gary Crockett, a business owner in New Orleans who spent 24 years in the Navy.
Cassidy held a press conference by phone with reporters on Friday to express concerns about the new semi-closed party primary system.
Cassidy opposed moving from the open, or jungle primary, in January 2024 when Gov. Jeff Landry pushed the change through the Republican Legislature, with the senator citing the cost of having an extra runoff election under the new system.
On Friday, Cassidy warned that turmoil would disenfranchise voters and who would end up not voting.
“As Louisianans vote today, it’s becoming crystal clear that No Party voters are facing a disjointed, difficult process to actually cast a vote in the GOP primary,” he said Saturday.
On Friday, Cassidy noted that then-Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature switched to a party primary in 2008.
“It was a disaster,” Cassidy said. “So after one election, we went back to the open primary, which has served us well.”
Landry initially sought a completely closed party primary system where only Democrats could vote for Democrats and Republicans for Republicans.
But U.S. Sen. John Kennedy and others got the state Senate to amend the closed party primary bill by then-state Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, who is now Landry’s chief of staff, to allow no-party voters to choose which party primary to vote in.
Kennedy said the change was necessary to allow the state’s no-party voters to participate in the primary. As of May 1, no-party voters constitute about 813,000 voters, or 27% of the electorate, according to pollster John Couvillon, who conducted surveys for Fleming.
William Vandermeer, a retiree in New Orleans, thought he had changed his registration to no-party to be able to vote for Cassidy on Saturday.
But he learned when he went to vote at a fire station on Norman C. Francis Parkway that he was still listed as a Democrat.
Under the jungle primary, Vandermeer noted he could have voted for Cassidy or any of the other Republican candidates.
Adding to the confusion is Landry’s April 30 decision – following a court order – to cancel the six U.S. House races in Louisiana but proceed with the races for Senate, Public Service Commission, state Supreme Court, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and local races.
“A lot of people think the whole election has been canceled,” Broussard said. “Voters have been calling all week about that. There wasn’t enough time to get out the word.”
Perret agreed.
“All the education and outreach efforts that all of us put together seem to have made a small dent but not a big dent in voter confusion,” Perret said.
At 2 p.m., he found only 6.9% turnout of Lafayette Parish’s registered voters, leading him to estimate that the overall turnout would be less than 30%.
The office of Secretary of State Nancy Landry is projecting a 28% turnout, which would be a big drop from the typical 50% turnout for past primary elections in non-presidential, even years.
State Rep. Aimee Adatto Freeman, a Democrat who represents Uptown New Orleans, said she found uncertainty when she went to vote Saturday morning at the St. Joan of Arc School on Cambronne Street.
She said she didn’t see a sign telling voters that their vote in the 2nd Congressional District wouldn’t count. Freeman went ahead and voted anyway for U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.
“We need to go back to the jungle primary,” said Freeman, who voted two years ago against moving to the semi-closed party primary.
Andrew Farnsworth, an elections commissioner at Hynes Charter School in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans, said he and others have been able to reset voting machines for no-party voters who chose “no-party” and then emerged irate from the polling booth that they didn’t have a choice in the Senate election.
“It’s slowing things down,” he said, adding that commissioners began taking extra time to explain the new rules to no-party voters beforehand.
Said Judy Chauvin, an election commissioner working another table at Hynes: “If they don’t change the system before the general election, we’re staying home.”
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A 53-year-old Louisiana man will serve 22 years in prison following a child sex crimes case that included possession of handmade childlike sex dolls — items that state lawmakers have since moved to ban.
Sabine Parish prosecutors say Yancy Elie Normand was sentenced after investigators received a tip that he forced someone to view child sexual abuse material. A search of his home allegedly uncovered more than 200 illegal files — including child sexual abuse material and bestiality — along with two handmade childlike sex dolls.
New state law bans child sex dolls
Louisiana lawmakers passed a law banning the possession, trafficking, and importation of child sex dolls statewide in 2024. State Sen. Beth Mizell said the push began after conversations with Homeland Security about human trafficking during the Super Bowl in New Orleans, at a time when the state had no specific law covering the dolls. The measure passed with near-unanimous support.
“I think the importance is that it’s a precursor to actual crimes against children,” Mizell said.
Mizell said the issue extends well beyond Louisiana’s borders.
“It’s a nationwide problem…when you look at just the volume of child abuse cases, to the point where our Attorney General now has multiple task forces in place all over the state,” Mizell said.
Task force expands statewide reach
The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office says protecting children remains the focus of its Louisiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Supervisory Special Agent Chris Masters leads the group, which now includes more than 80 agencies and 250 detectives.
Masters said the dolls are often misunderstood by the public.
“When people hear sex doll, they think of the blow-up thing. These things are thousands of dollars, and they’re anatomically appropriate to a child,” Masters said. “They’re gonna look like a child. It’s not just what you think on TV.”
Masters said coordination across agencies is essential to the task force’s work.
“It’s completely impossible if law enforcement is not together on the same page with the same type of training, the same access, the same type of equipment,” Masters said. “We can tend to continue expanding our partnerships until there is no safe haven for any sex predator or child predator in this state.”
Lawmakers urge parents to monitor children’s online activity
Mizell said the volume of harmful material accessible online makes parental awareness critical.
“You have access to abhorrent material online in your hand all day, every day,” Mizell said. “Pay attention. Don’t be afraid to look at your child’s phone.”
Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.
Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.
MONROE, La. (KNOE)—Over the past week, average gas prices in Louisiana have fallen 6.8 cents. That averages to $3.41/g today, according to a survey of 2,436 stations conducted by ‘GasBuddy’.
Compared to a month ago, prices in Louisiana are 45.3 cents lower per gallon. The lowest price of gas in Louisiana was $2.59/g on Sunday, with the highest being $4.99/g.
For reference, the national average price of gas has fallen 6.9 cents per gallon in the last week, which averages to $3.78/g, and is down 55.6 cents per gallon from a month ago.
On this date for the past five years, here’s how Louisiana’s gas prices compare to the nation’s average:
June 29, 2025: $2.75/g (U.S. Average: $3.14/g)
June 29, 2024: $2.93/g (U.S. Average: $3.48/g)
June 29, 2023: $3.02/g (U.S. Average: $3.51/g)
June 29, 2022: $4.37/g (U.S. Average: $4.85/g)
June 29, 2021: $2.76/g (U.S. Average: $3.12/g)
Copyright 2026 KNOE. All rights reserved.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Julia Letlow and Jamie Davis will face off this fall for U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s seat after winning their respective party runoffs Saturday night.
Letlow won the Republican runoff over John Fleming with 57% of the vote, less than an hour after polls closed on June 27. Davis won the Democratic nomination in a landslide, securing 80% of the vote over Gary Crockett.
Letlow, Davis claim victories
“I’ll fight for our families, I’ll fight for our farmers. I’ll fight for our teachers. I will fight for our parents. I’ll fight for our law enforcement. I will fight for everyone in this room, and we are just getting started,” Letlow said.
Davis said the issues driving his campaign cross party lines.
“Everybody wants better healthcare. Everybody wants better education for their children. Everybody wants a leg up with affordability. And everybody wants the Constitution to be upheld. Those issues are nonpartisan. I don’t have to change nothing but keep working,” Davis said.
Low turnout, Trump endorsement shaped Republican race
Estimated turnout was about 18% of registered voters. Political analyst Jim Engster said the low turnout actually benefited Fleming, who captured 43% of the vote, but was not enough to overcome President Trump’s endorsement of Letlow.
“He really had the 8 ball against him when President Trump endorsed Julia Letlow. President Trump is Hercules of Republican politics, and he’s carried this state three times by about 60 percent of the votes each time,” Engster said.
Engster said the results reflect the broader political landscape in Louisiana.
“It says that it’s more of the same. We’re a Republican state, and until further notice, we vote red in major elections,” Engster said.
New closed primary system draws scrutiny
Saturday’s election was the first major cycle under Louisiana’s new closed party primary system, in which Democratic voters could only choose Democratic candidates and Republican voters could only choose Republican candidates.
Engster said the change had a significant impact on participation, pointing to Cassidy’s vote totals as an example.
“Bill Cassidy might very well have held onto his seat in an open primary. After all, in the last open primary, he got 1,228,000 votes. This time he got 99,000 votes, so that’s a big difference,” Engster said.
Engster said critics of the closed primary system will use the turnout figures to make their case.
“It’ll be a case in which those who are against the closed primary will make the case that ‘The open primary may have its flaws, but more people participate. And after all, that is what we want. We want more people voting in our elections,” Engster said.
Road to November 2026
History suggests Republicans hold the advantage heading into the general election. Engster noted that Louisiana’s last elected Democratic senator was Mary Landrieu in 2008.
“It would really be a political miracle for Jamie Davis to win. Those things happen, but right now it’s a long shot, and there’s a lot of heavy lifting for him to do and for the Democratic Party to do to try to make up the inherent gap that is evident in Louisiana politics,” Engster said.
Letlow and Davis will face off in the general election on November 3.
Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.
Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.
-
Nebraska10 seconds ago49 states allow nurse midwives to deliver your baby inside your home. Not Nebraska.
-
Nevada3 minutes agoVoting rights advocates score three legal victories but remain on alert against election threats
-
New Hampshire8 minutes agoDeclassified Pentagon UFO files detail mysterious 1947 incident in New Hampshire
-
New Jersey15 minutes agoNYC Gridlock Alert for France-Sweden World Cup match in New Jersey. Here’s what to know.
-
New Mexico18 minutes agoDid US drug agents allow lethal fentanyl to hit New Mexico’s streets?
-
North Carolina23 minutes agoNorth Carolina budget nears completion with focus on pay raises
-
North Dakota30 minutes agoNorth Dakota water damage expert trains mold detection dog
-
Ohio33 minutes agoCentral Ohio under extreme heat warning as heat index over 105 expected
