The Louisiana State Legislature is comprised of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana State Senate. 

Louisiana is currently under divided government: the Governor is a Democrat, while Republicans control both chambers of the legislature. The entire Louisiana state legislature is up for election in 2019, and these are all Last Chance races. The current Governor is a Democrat, and is up for reelection this year. The state legislature draws district lines. The Governor has the power to veto district maps drawn by the state legislature.

Interestingly, about 40% of the state leg seats will be open this year because of term limits. This could be a great opportunity for Louisianans to take advantage of these open seat opportunities to make key inroads ahead of the next round of districting. Also, note that Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards is up for reelection in 2019.

And since the Louisiana Governor has veto power over district maps, it is critically important that we keep Edwards in the Governor’s mansion. Building momentum at the bottom of the ticket will benefit the top of the ticket too in this critical redistricting moment.

The state is also poised to make great gains in 2019. Last year, a diverse coalition of interracial and interfaith groups came together in an unprecedented effort to abolish non-unanimous juries. They were successful, and now only one other state (Oregon) still has in place this Jim Crow law, which allowed individuals to be convicted and imprisoned without a unanimous jury of their peers. The coalition canvassed, called, and texted hundreds of thousands of voters, resulting in an updated voter file that presents fertile ground for progressive groups to use for getting out the vote this fall.

In Louisiana, the state legislature has control over the redistricting process. The redistricted maps are introduced as bills in the Senate and the House, and can be vetoed by the Governor. If the legislature fails to pass a plan, the state Supreme Court draws its own plan.
(Brennan Center; Ballotpedia) 

Louisiana faced special scrutiny under the Voting Rights Act as a state with a history of using district lines as tools of racial discrimination, so all district maps had to be reviewed and preapproved by the U.S. Department of Justice before implementation. (Ballotpedia) This changed on June 25, 2013, when the Supreme Court swept away a key provision of this landmark civil rights law in Shelby County v. Holder.

The Supreme Court ruled that the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act — which determines which jurisdictions are covered by Section 5 and includes the state of Louisiana as a whole — is unconstitutional because it is based on an old formula. As a practical matter this means that Section 5 is inoperable until Congress enacts a new coverage formula, which the decision invited Congress to do. 

On June 13, 2018, nine African-American voters in Louisiana filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s 2011 congressional plan as a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). (Johnson v. Ardoin; Brennan Center; AP News; see also 2011 Legal Requirements for Redistricting in Louisiana)

Plaintiffs allege that the legislature packed African-American voters into the Second Congressional District and split African-American voters among three other congressional districts, rather than unifying them to create a second majority-minority district, thereby having the effect of diluting their voting strength and political influence.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the map violates Section 2 of the VRA and enjoin the state from using the current map in any further congressional elections. The plaintiffs are also asking the court to require that the state adopt a new congressional plan that includes a second majority-minority district.

A grassroots group called Fair Districts Louisiana was formed in 2017 as a nonpartisan alliance of citizens advocating for redistricting reform. 

To register to vote you must:

• be a U.S. citizen;
• be 17 years old (16 years old if registering in person at the registrar of voters office or at the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles), but must be 18 years old to vote;
• not be under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony;
• not be under a judgment of full interdiction for mental incompetence or partial interdiction with suspension of voting rights; reside in the state and parish in which you seek to register;

You must be registered at least 20 days prior to an election if registering through our GeauxVote Online Registration System with a Louisiana driver’s license or Louisiana special ID card or 30 days prior to an election if registering in person or by mail to be eligible to vote in that particular election. (If mailing in an application, the application or envelope must be postmarked 30 days prior to the first election in which you seek to vote.)

Last Day: 

• For the October Primary, you must register by Sunday, September 22nd, 2019.
• For the November Election you must register by Sunday, October 27th, 2019.

Absentee Ballots:

There is no vote by mail and no “no excuse” absentee voting in LA. There is only mail/absentee voting for people who qualify, such as seniors or involuntarily confined individuals.

Louisiana requires ID to vote. Acceptable forms include:

• a driver’s license 
• a Louisiana Special ID
• LA Wallet digital driver’s license; or some other generally recognized picture ID that contains your name and signature.
• If you do not have a driver’s license, Louisiana Special ID or some other generally recognized picture ID that contains your name and signature, you may still cast your vote by signature on a voter affidavit.