In key Southern red state, democracy suffers dramatic back-to-back setbacks

After Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices further gutted the Voting Rights Act last week, it stood to reason that Louisiana Republicans would do what they’ve long wanted to do: redraw the state’s district map so that the state’s two Black congressmen would almost certainly lose. There was, however, a logistical problem.

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The Pelican State’s electoral process, which included balloting in May, was already in motion, and by any reasonable measure, the high court’s ruling came too late in the year to accommodate partisan plans for the 2026 cycle.

Gov. Jeff Landry apparently didn’t care, and just one day after the Louisiana v. Callais ruling came down, the Republican governor suspended scheduled primary elections and directed the legislature to move forward with plans to approve a new district map.

The brazen and undemocratic move, executed two days before early voting began in Louisiana, led to chaotic conditions that were as predictable as they were unavoidable. The New York Times reported:

The signs were stark, in bold, capital letters at early voting sites in Louisiana on Saturday: “ATTENTION! NOTICE OF CANCELLATION.”

The normally scheduled House primaries had been scrapped, the bulletins said, and any votes cast for those races would not be counted. It was an unusual message directed at Louisianians who showed up for the first day of early voting, and a reflection of the dizzying scramble that is playing out after the Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional map.

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Under Landry’s plan, some of the state’s May 16 contests can proceed as planned, but congressional primaries have been suspended at his command. The result, the Times’ report added, was understandable “bewilderment” among local voters who weren’t altogether sure whether the state would count their ballots.

The governor’s gambit is now facing spirited legal challenges, but as it happens, this coincided with a different GOP effort in Louisiana that also undermined democracy.