Louisiana Democrats on Thursday criticized the suspension of U.S. House primaries in the state one day after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidated the state’s congressional map.
“We are absolutely concerned about the whole process and the way it was done,” Dadrius Lanus, the party’s executive director, told The Epoch Times. “We’re going to fight them tooth and nail.”
Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order on Thursday postponing the House primaries to allow time for lawmakers to redraw and pass a new map.
Mail-in ballots began to be sent out at the end of March, and early voting was set to begin Saturday for the May 16 primary election. A second primary scheduled for June 27 was also suspended.
All other offices and ballot measures set for May 16 will continue as planned.
Lanus expected legal action to be filed against Landry’s order. The state party met with the national Democratic Party and expected to get support from other organizations, including the NAACP and the ACLU, to help them challenge what they considered was an illegal maneuver to cancel an ongoing election.
“Absentee votes have already been cast,” he said. “For them to say in the 25th hour—those will not count. That’s election rigging 101. That does not make sense to anybody.”
A three-judge district court panel issued an order earlier in the day affirming Louisiana could not conduct congressional elections under its current map after the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision on the Louisiana case—Phillip Callais v. Nancy Landry—narrowed the Voting Rights Act by limiting the use of race-based redistricting.
The Supreme Court ruled the state’s electoral map that included a second black-majority U.S. congressional district was unconstitutional because it was drawn explicitly based on race.
“The best way to end race-based discrimination is to stop making decisions based on race,” Landry said in a statement. “Here in Louisiana, we’re proud to lead the nation on this charge. Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters.”
The state was ordered to submit a plan within three days listing how it would meet the judgement’s requirements.
“The State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map. We are working together with the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office to develop a path forward,” Landry and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a joint statement.
Landry did not give a date for when lawmakers would meet and redraw a new and lawful congressional map.
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